Keep Me Safe
by ValkyriesDaughter
Summary: "I won't let them destroy you." More words poured out of her mouth. He felt the weight of some of the fractured pieces of his mind dissolve, easing the burden. "I'll keep you safe…HYDRA won't take you Bucky."... Waking from a dream with a new memory of someone whose face seems so important, Bucky sets out to find her and see if she can bring peace to his troubled mind. Post CW.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note;  
** Welcome! For those of you checking out this story I want to thank you for stopping by. This is not my first time writing fanfiction, however this in a new account. I wanted to keep some stories separated and my attention on each account focused on different stories. This however is my first attempt at a Marvel CU story. I am a total Bucky fangirl, and finally decided to get one of the ideas I had out of my head and onto paper (figuratively). This story will most be of events post Civil War, with flashbacks as necessary, and obviously some changes have been made to the background story as a result.

Summary; Bucky was not the only one that HYDRA held captive, now that memories are starting to come back, Bucky is determined to find the girl he dreams about in hopes that he will get the rest of them back. She also holds the key to freeing in from HYDRA forever. Her name is Amelia and she is an inhuman, code-name Valkyrie - with the power to read minds and extract memories. Who is she to Bucky? And why is his gut telling him to find her?

Obvious disclaimer, I own nothing of Marvel or it's characters. All I can say is mine is Amelia and the inspiration to write. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE leave a review, comment or feedback at the end of this chapter. Sadly cannot promise regular updates, however having readers reviewing keeps me inspired knowing that some people out there want to read more of this story.

* * *

 **EASTERN UKRAINE – FEBURARY 6th, 1957**

Water dripped distantly. The low buzzing sound of electricity running through the wires in the walls to power the flickering lights that hung in the hallway – they swung in a slight breeze, probably from a door or window cracked open somewhere. It let in the cold, crisp air of Ukrainian winter into the facility. The building was sparsely staffed, just enough to keep it secure. HYDRA may not have been what it once was, but it was still very much alive - working in the shadows, pulling the strings from behind the curtains. While HYDRA had seemingly unmeasured resources, little had been done to maintain the upkeep of the building, which was a surprise considering what value the building housed.

One would need to descend a few abandoned levels to find what the facility hid, in the lower levels, deep underground was housed some of HYDRA's more important investments.

Heavy footsteps sounded, a crash of a metal door as it was thrown open. In one particularly gloomy room a man in a dark brown suit marched in, an armed guard on either side of him. "I believe congratulations are in order." The man said, his voice deep as he walked to a table, upon it files were open for view. He picked up the surveillance photograph of a man, he had been a rising star in Europe's political scene in the wake of the second world war, a voice to reason, a moderate who spoke of aligning in the wake of the formation of the USSR. He no doubt would have been celebrated, and history would have remembered him a great leader. But not anymore.

A single bullet had changed what could have been. A single bullet had eliminated yet another enemy to HYDRA, to humanity…

"Yes, the asset was extremely successful." A doctor replied as he stepped back from the chair where a man was seated. His head hunched over and his silver arm flexed, a metal hand twisting into his hair. Grappling with what he had done.

"Mission report?" the man in the suit said turning to the asset.

All was still in the room before the man in the chair lifted his head, his blue eyes were vacant for a moment before he recited off what he needed too; "French councilman, Andres LeMarieux – age 37, born in Champange. Address 1955 Rue Charlot, Paris was eliminated at approx. 1700 hours yesterday afternoon while walking along the Seine. No contacts with local enforcement, no HYDRA agents compromised." The man said his voice even, dry and unaffected by emotion.

"Good." The man in the suit said and turned to glance to the doctor a smile on his face. Operation Winter Soldier was turning out to be more of a success than anyone had thought possible. How effective one man could be. Dr. Zola's work had yielded unprecedented results. "Well done soldier." He then said and dropped the file back onto the desk with a soft thud.

"What is your next orders sir?" the doctor then asked. "Where do we send him next?"

The man contemplated for a moment and glanced back to the Winter Soldier who was stared down at his hands. Yes, reports on the asset had described that the effects of the wipes were never permanent – what he saw before him now was not the same weapon that had been awoken from ice five days ago and sent out into the field. Now he showed small signs of emotion, concern…. even guilt.

"We have accomplished enough by his hands. Wipe him and freeze him." The man replied and then moved to the door. His work was done here.

"I want to see _her_." The voice of the asset pierced the air, angry and firm. Turning around he met a set of fierce blue eyes, now a blaze of determination. Sighing lowly the man in the suit folded his arms as he considered. "Mission is over, I _need_ to see _her._ " the Winter Soldier demanded again. A silence fell over the room.

"Doctor, how is the new project Valkyrie fairing?" the man asked, not taking his eyes from the asset. They were locked in a battle of wills at the moment.

"She faired well with her first awakening." The doctor said. "But…"

"But?" the man said and snapped his head to look at the doctor.

"She is resistant to the machine." The doctor then continued after being prompted. There was a metallic groan from the chair as the asset used his metal hand to crush the arm of the chair. Fury in his gaze as his jaw locked. The guards raised their weapons at him and the soldier stilled, knowing he could not do anything, it would mean his life… and hers. "The enhanced abilities she gained from the Tesseract that Dr. Zola exposed her too have made her mind too strong for the machine to affect." The doctor then added.

"Is she compliant?" the man then asked lowly. One project was a success but was the other a failure?

"She is." The doctor answered and the man considered for a moment. How best to go about this then?

"Wipe him and then bring him to her. One hour then freeze them both again." The man ordered before he turned and walked from the room. As he did two assistants went to the Winter Soldier and strapped him down before attaching the electrodes to each side of his head. The asset did not resist, he knew the price he had to pay. The doctor came to look him over before they started the process.

"Amelia…." The asset whispered lowly as he closed his eyes, ready for the pain to rip his mind apart.

"You'll see her soon." The doctor assured him but his voice lacked any form of compassion. With the flip of a switch the machine was turned on and the agonized screams of the asset filled the corridors, following the man in the suit as he made his exit from the facility.

* * *

The Winter Soldier was carried down a particularly gloomy hallway of the facility, his legs dragging behind him as there was a guard on each side of him grasping an arm as they moved him. The assets head hung low, his eyes closed as the world seemed to be fractured into a thousand pieces, words and sounds, even what his eyes saw had no meaning to him. He knew nothing…. was nothing. There was the click of a door being unlocked and then the cool metal of a gun held to his hand.

"Stand back or you know what happens." The words filtered into his brain but meant nothing. He did not know who was speaking, but the voice was close…. On the left? "One hour."

Suddenly he was dropped and his body slammed to the cold concrete floor, then there was a metallic clang of a door closing. Then suddenly knew hands were on him, gasps in the distance of a soft voice – a beautiful cadence entered his mind, conflicting with the chaos that the fractured parts of him swan around in. Lost to oblivion, floating in a sea of nothingness.

Light hit his eyes as he was rolled over, his body did not have the strength of will to resist. He had been trained, do not resist. Obey. The pain was not just in his mind, but every part of his, his muscles still in painful contraction from the electricity that had flooded his body to wipe his mind.

"Bucky." One word broke through, it sounded like a distant dream… or perhaps a far off memory. Something that was familiar. Gentle fingers touched his face. His body tensed. _Do not resist. Obey._ – some shard of him remembered. Training – he was a weapon. Blood… always blood. _Do not resist_. _Obey._

 _"Bucky…"_ came that voice again, to heavenly to be real but it broke through the rest of the chaos – reaching deep down and plunging into the sea and anchored itself to some part of him, too small to be found by anything else. It raised that part up and brought it to the surface – his eyes flashed open as he looked to the figure looming over him.

Hazel eyes, of gold and green – colors of calm, peered down at him. A heart-shaped face, clear ivory the mind of the asset took in her details and felt distant stirrings of remembrance, before he could claim those memories they slipped away like smoke and ash. His brow furrowed as he stared up at her, watching her full pink lips formed that word again, " _Bucky._ "

Time was losing meaning. Trying to scrape together what was left of his thoughts was like trying to hold onto water. His mouth opened, trying to do what she did and make sounds but even language it was impressed in him, so many words, in different tongues but they failed to come to him in that moment. There was a soft cooing – comfort and a warm palm against his cheeks. His blue eyes wide and frantic, he felt like he had exploded, shattered, that pieces of him were floating again but his body was remaining still. Scattered like dust on the wind.

Then suddenly everything seemed to still. The warmth was no longer just touching his cheek… he felt it both outside and in. A gentle motion somewhere within that gathered the pieces, not leaving a single one behind, they were all brought together, a pile of shards too small and too sharp to put back together but somehow it became clearer. Blinking his eyes he looked up, regarding her again. Something told him he knew this face, _her_ face.

Again the soldier tried to speak and again she shushed him gently. Crystalline tears filled her eyes, one fell onto his chin and he was more aware of how it slid across his skin than he was of the gentle force piecing him back together. Somehow this was important… somehow _she_ was important. What could he not figure out? His mouth ached with the question he seemed unable to ask.

"I know Bucky… I know…" she whispered, the words floated into his ears but did not fully register. He was captivated though by the smooth cadence of her voice. More tears slid down her cheeks. Without even thinking of knowing his metal arm reached up – the thumb brushed against her cheek.

"I won't let them destroy you." More words poured out of her mouth. He felt the weight of some of the fractured pieces of his mind dissolve, easing the burden. "I'll keep you safe…HYDRA won't take you Bucky." She said as slowly more and more pieces faded and the panic that had been building instead him lessened.

"Your memories will be safe with me, the machine can't break me… and you won't remember me next time they wake you…" she then said and her voice cracked and more of her hot tears hit his face. "A-And that's okay… I'll leave you this one memory… to guide you back to me. When you have the power to remember on your own… you'll find your way to me again." She said and then leaned down, her nose brushing his and her warm breath fanned over his face. He was fixated on her, whatever this way. Whatever she was saying it was imprinting itself on a deep part of him, somewhere deeper than his training, than their commands… somewhere, where he wasn't just a weapon - somewhere, where he was something _else._

"Bucky, you'll know what to do. When you remember this… just know I love you. In ten years or in a thousand… whenever and wherever… No matter what the world is like. I'll be waiting." Her words then said, not coming from her mouth but impressing into his mind, tattooing themselves inside of him. Some permanent mark he would unknowingly carry with him from this day, until his last. The words spoke to something or someone else.

"I'll keep you safe." She said, her voice filling his ears before a softness was felt against his mouth.

 _Bucky…._

* * *

 **WAKANDA – MAY 17th, 2016**

"Bucky!" Steve exclaimed as his friend shot up out of the bed. Bucky tried to stable himself but fell as he tried to grasp the edge of the bed with a metal arm that was no longer there. The dark haired name grunted as he nearly collapsed to the ground but his friend was there to catch him before he fell out of the bed. His heart was racing as his head was filled with the images from his dream. Of that place…. Of _her._

"Steve?" Bucky croaked his mouth and throat dry. "What happened?" he then asked, the last thing he remembered happening before the dream was the fight in Siberia… with Tony Stark. His arm had been destroyed….

"You've been out for three days. You were in pretty bad shape after fighting Stark." The blonde haired man said and eased his friend to a sitting position before pulling away and looking him over. Once he was sure that Bucky would not fall over once again he then reached for bottle of water and cracked it open before offering it to the dark haired male. "Drink." He advised lowly.

Taking the bottle with his real hand he brought it up to his lips. The water felt good on his dry throat. But he was reminded by the ghost of a memory, of hots tears hitting his jawline. His hand flexed denting the sides of the bottle before he lowered it.

"You alright Buck?" Steve then asked. Bucky looked to his oldest friend with conflicted look on his face.

"Where are we?" the Winter Soldier then asked.

"T'Challa, granted us asylum in his country. As far as the rest of the world knows though, we vanished from Serbia without a trace." He explained. "We are safe hear, for as long as we need too. They are even building you a new arm." Steve then continued to supply. Bucky heard the words but his mind was still replaying the images in his head over and over again. He could still hear her voice echoing in his mind. He stared at the wall as he tried to weave together what it all meant, what her words, the message she had left in him meant.

"What's the matter?" Steve asked, concern filling his voice. Bucky glanced to his friend and a sigh escaped him. Steve did not know all of it. There was so much about HYDRA and what they had done to him. Bucky had fragments, bits and pieces but he knew he was not whole. Had known it from the moment he had seen Steve on the bridge or pulled him from the river. Parts of him were missing, but maybe there was someone out there who could piece him back together.

"I had a dream." Bucky finally said. There was a moment of silence between the friends.

"What kind of dream?" the other asked.

"I think it was a memory." Bucky explained and looked to Steve. "From when I was with HYDRA…"

There was a silence as Steve waited for the other to gather his thoughts and speak again; "It was a girl. She was there with me. They were holding her as well. I wanted to see her… I knew who she was before they wiped me. I think she can help me Steve… help me remember…" he then said and there was simultaneously some hope that filled him and a weight that fell on his shoulders. Steve was contemplative about what was revealed.

"You sure Bucky? Sure that this dream was right?"

"More sure than I have felt in a long time." he replied, briefly he closed his eyes and he could feel it - that small, barely noticeable thread that was made of steel. It centered him now, and tugged him to what had kept him glued together. It all centered around a face with pink lips, dark hair and hazel eyes.

"We'll ask T'Challa, if HYDRA has more unknown facilities out there, there could be more people too. We'll find this girl-" Steve said as he stood from his chair at Bucky's bedside.

"Amelia." Bucky suddenly said cutting Steve off. Surprised he looked to his friend. "In the dream, I called her Amelia."

* * *

So? What do you guys think?

Please write me a review with any comments, ideas or feedback. I welcome it all!


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note;**

Welcome everyone to another exciting chapter! Now obviously you have noticed that according to this story Bucky doesn't go under again - how else could we have a story? Also want to address maybe one thing I worry about, is Bucky acting a little OOC? The answer is perhaps, over the course of the movies when we first see Bucky as the 'Winter Soldier' he is cold, calculated and distant, but as his memories return he becomes a little unstable and by the end of CW he seems more talkative, remembers more but is so haunted by the things he has done. I do want to have my readers think of Bucky in this story like that, he is really starting to reclaim his identity but obviously doesn't have all the answers yet and even still has to combat with all the horrible things he has done. He is basically a man caught between two mindsets, you will definitely be able to see the difference in his character when flashbacks occur and in events to come.

I hope that helps put you guys into the right mindset as we go forward now.

Thank you so very much for those who have reviewed I appreciate that you guys took the time. As always please leave me a review I welcome feedback and it helps me stay motivated to write!

* * *

 **WAKANDA – MAY 31st, 2016**

Two weeks. Two agonizing weeks it took for preparations to be made. Of course Steve and T'Challa both had tried to reason with Bucky explaining that the international community was still on high alert, they were both wanted men. Not to mention the need to wait for his new arm to be built, intel to be gathered about possible leads for them to start with. But nearly every night Bucky relived those memories in his dreams. He saw her face and each time could remember it just a little bit better. He now could recall a light dusting of freckles on her nose, the shape of that nose… or the flecks of brown in her eyes. Each morning he woke with now a renewed sense of purpose, he had to find Amelia and get the answers that he knew she had.

He had taken to writing down things in a book, whatever details he could recall from his dream. Hoping something might finally click and give him a direction of where to start looking. Once he had his new metal arm he was even able to draw her face, the precision of his robotic limb was unmatched and he was able to make an almost perfect likeness of her stare up at him from the page. But even with her image on paper and her name in his head Bucky still did not know the important things.

Who was she? Why did HYDRA have her? What was she? What was she to Bucky?

Each question only brought forth more.

But finally tomorrow, tomorrow they would make their way out of Wakanda and start their search. The best that they had to go one was Bucky's recollection of the last HYDRA base that he could remember, the one he had woken up in before being sent after Nick Fury. They had to start somewhere.

"You sure you are ready?" Steve's voice broke the silence that had surrounded Bucky. Looking up he saw his friend in the doorway, arms crossed. "We can take a few more days if you need to get accustomed to that arm."

Bucky glanced down at the new metal arm. Even though it wasn't a biological limb he had missed it. If there was one thing HYDRA had been good at, it had been making the arm. He was impressed at the ability of the Wakandan scientists and engineers who were able to replicate the HYDRA technology. Even able to use biometric scans of his real arm to mold him probably the most accurate limb that they could. When they had done his first outfitting he requested that they put the red star back on the shoulder. A request that had even surprised Steve, yet Bucky could reason, the metal arm was now as real to him as the arm he had been born with was, and that included the star. He could not simply just forget about it, but he asked it to now be outlined in blue, a symbol of reclaiming the star for the country he had once devoted his life to serving.

"I can't wait for this Steve…. I need answers." Bucky finally said and he stood. "If I could show you what I see when I close my eyes… I can't forget this, or her." He said, he would not let it slip by while he hid in the safety of Wakanda, he had to go and find the pieces he was missing.

"I didn't really think he would change your mind." Came a female voice, and Natasha Romanoff stepped into the doorway as well, standing just behind Steve. The one known as Black Widow and many of the other Avengers had also eventually come to Wakanda for safety, to hide. Bucky felt guilty that for his sake they had all been forced to live as fugitives, but none would hear any of his apologies – except perhaps Scott, he didn't mind hearing Bucky's laments over sentencing him to a life apart from his daughter.

Bucky looked to the red haired woman, they had once been enemies. Standing on opposite ends and trying to kill each other. He had apologized to her as well, for the bullets he had once put in her. Natasha had just smirked and called it; 'occupational hazard'.

"Our plan will be ready by morning." She said and Bucky narrowed his eyes.

He did not even need to ask before Steve answered; "Yes Buck, she is coming with us." He said. "We need all the help we can get."

The dark haired male's eyes narrowed further. "Just her." Bucky asserted, this couldn't get out of hand. Already they were three fugitives going out on a mission, having anymore come along would surely make sure their cover was blown. But even Bucky had to admit having someone as skilled as Romanoff there wouldn't be the worst idea in the world.

"Just her." Steve confirmed.

"Really feeling the love here guys." Natasha remarked with a sarcastic smirk before she rolled her eyes and walked off out of view.

Glancing down to the notebook in his hands Bucky glanced as the drawing staring up at him before he slowly closed it. Somehow he felt guilty for it, like by closing it he was shutting her out and would forget about her again.

"Have you given any thought-" Steve started as he wandered into the room and took a seat at Bucky's side. "-about the possibility that we don't find her?" he then asked. Bucky froze. He had not considered failure, even if it took months… years… he would not stop until he knew what had happened to her. What HYDRA had done to her.

 _In ten years or in a thousand… whenever and wherever… No matter what the world is like. I'll be waiting._ Her voice echoed in his head, a promise that he could not let go of.

He did not know how to tell Steve, or what to say. How could he tell his best friend that he would walk to the ends of the earth for a girl who the only thing he knew about her was her name? He may not have all his memories… but he knew Steve would follow, walk beside him for the entire journey if need be. Could he really ask his friend to do such a thing when already he had done so much for him?

"This is the one mission I can't fail, Steve." Bucky finally admitted lowly.

A hand came to his shoulder and the dark haired man lifted his head and looked to Steve who was just smiling good-naturedly at him. A brief hazy memory surface, it was not all there, but he remembered a smaller, skinnier version of Steve wearing that same smile.

"I'm with you, till' the end of the line pal." He said and Bucky breathed a sigh, he remembered those words as well. And knowing how deeply his friend meant them gave him some comfort, that at least this time… he didn't have to do it alone.

* * *

 **EASTERN UKRAINE – JUNE 3rd, 2017**

Leaving Wakanda had been easy, the flight to Ukraine also relatively easy. The jet was untraceable by radar or so T'Challa had claimed, but that still didn't have Bucky any less concerned with the more ground they covered. There were many other ways to get caught, all it took was the right person to see and know that they weren't a regular plane to sound the alert. However when they arrived in eastern Ukraine without incident Bucky breathed his first sigh of relief they had found this second HYDRA facility from some of the old records of the first one they went too. There had been some thought to try searching the facility in Siberia but figured that surely Thaddeus Ross had already had the entire facility investigated and all information removed from there. But it would have probably have been their best bet for any information about the Winter Soldier program, including locations Bucky had one been kept in. Sadly they had found nothing yet pertaining to any person named Amelia or project Valkyrie.

"It's just down the ridge, about half a mile." Natasha said as she landed the jet on the edge of a cliff, a rocky space large enough for the jet to settle on. She powered down the machine as Bucky stood from his seat. Methodically he went to the weapons safe and opened it, preparing, Though they suspected this facility was long since abandoned, he would not take a chance – if there were any members of HYDRA manning this facility they would surely try and kill them.

"Ready?" Steve asked him and Bucky nodded before the ramp at the back of the jet lowered and the three of them slowly walked down it.

The hike to the facility was not terribly hard, below they could see a faint outline of what had probably been the supply road to the facility. Probably a secret entrance at the bottom of the gorge. Bucky had vague memories of snow in his mind… from the last time he had been there? He shook his head and kept his eyes peeled, so far it seem that there were no modern cameras or surveillance at the perimeter of the base. A lump formed in his stomach that perhaps this would be another dead end.

Approaching the gate to the facility they found that most everything was covered in vines, and other plant growth that was started to reclaim the man made structure. Bucky broke the chain around the gate with his metal hand before they entered, all three were more relaxed as it became more obvious that the base was truly and completely abandoned. Steve and Natasha shared grave looks with each other, though they tried to hide it Bucky did notice from the corner of his eyes. Upon entering they found the inside was caked in dust, crumbling from the inside out, this place had been long since abandoned.

Still they ventured inside, if only to be sure that there was no information left behind for them to work with. Descending further in they found rooms, all frozen in time. Computers and radios left behind. Papers that were on the ground so effected by the passing of time that they could not make out what had been. But still Bucky walked further in, guided by gut feeling and hazy memories of this place. Once they reached the lower levels he froze in a doorway. Though grimy and dusty he recognized this place as the place from his dreams. Using what he remember he walked along the hallway until he found the room, still all the pieces as it once was, even the chair with the crush arm where he had once sat so many, many years ago.

Without a word Bucky turned from the room and walked down the hallway, in search of the other room. He had no memory to go on, that machine that they had used on him had made him unable to recall those few moments after it. But he followed nothing but his gut feeling, busting open every door he came across.

"Bucky!" Steve's voice called from behind him, the sounds of his friend running after him did not slow the Winter Soldier down one bit. As more rooms failed to be the one he was looking for he grew more desperate – needing to find it if only to prove to himself the dream had been real.

Finally he slammed a door open and stared inside, it was a cell. A small one at that not the first in that hallway but somehow he knew that this was the one. Slowly stepping inside he glanced about, as if he might find the brown haired girl waiting for him inside. A heard movement behind him and knew that Steve was lingering at the doorway, watching. Circling Bucky took in the room, little details stood out to him from scrapes on the walls to the little barred window about six feet up the wall, the only glimpse outside.

Moving to the concrete slab that had served as the base for what would have been a bed he sat down. He felt so close, this was the room from his dreams. But clearly nothing was left.

"This was it." He said lowly before he glanced to Steve who wore a worried expression.

"I'm sorry Buck." Steve replied lowly - wishing that they had been able to find more.

Glancing away Bucky knew it had been a fool's hope to find any new information from the moment they entered into the facility. Nothing was left here, not even a trace…. So now how were they to proceed? Sighing lowly his blue eyes trained on a spot on the wall. Lifting his real hand he brushed some of the dust away and revealed a small carving into a wall. The initials _A. W,_ had been carved into the wall along with little marks, eight in total - carved into the concrete walls with someone sharp and by someone with enough determination to keep track. Eight marks to count eight days. The same way Bucky recalled vaguely how he had kept track of time in the POW camp in Italy.

"A.W…. Amelia…." Bucky murmured lowly as Steve stepped closer to have a look. "Eight days she was here…. She was here Steve."

"I know Buck… I know." The other responded to him lowly. For a moment Bucky hung his head. In his mind he grasped the image of Amelia in his head wondering where in the world he would try to find a trace of her next.

"Guys!" Natasha's voice echoed down the hallway. "Think I have something."

Both Bucky and Steve hurried back to the first room, and Bucky glanced towards the chair and the partially dismantled machine that had once been used on him. His eyes then turned to the red haired assassin as she was standing over a table, a few files splayed out before her and the file cabinet opened up behind her. Not much had been left behind, but hopefully the little bits that had would have some useful information.

"What is it?" Steve asked as he moved to stand next to Natasha and look at what she was seeing. Bucky stayed a few paces back, not sure if he could bring himself to look at the files just yet, what if they turned out to be nothing but useless information?

"This facility was shut down about eight months before the collapse of the USSR, there were some orders to take everything and abandon it completely." She explained before sliding a sheet towards Steve, probably a letter of some kind with the official HYDRA orders. Bucky sighed, so everything had been moved.

"But here…" Bucky perked up and stepped forward as Romanoff continued. "This was a special request, to have all information and equipment related to Project Valkyrie sent to a permanent HYDRA facility in Dresden, Germany…. Including the safe transport of one operational cryogenic capsule." She said and then turned the paper so Bucky could look at it. Hungry blue eyes raked over the typed message, glancing over the embossed seal of HYDRA in the top right corner. It did not have her name on it, but see the term 'Valkyrie' on the page and the line regarding the cryogenic machine he knew… she had been sent to Germany.

Bucky stared intently at the page and his fist tightened at his side.

"This is good news. We know where to go look for more information." Natasha then said lowly.

Silence fell over the trio for another moment before Bucky found his voice again to speak; "I was there…" he said lowly. "That was the facility I woke up in… when I was sent to get the serum from Howard Stark" he then revealed.

Solemn looks crossed over both Steve and Natasha's faces.

"I was there… she could have been right there." Bucky said more to himself. He had not remembered her face or her name back then… but he had probably been in a cryogenic capsule right next to her and he hadn't even known.

"We'll get some answers." Steve assured him. Natasha gathered up a few papers that were relevant enough to take with them. Bucky tried to rack his brain, remember when he had woken up for that mission. Did he remember seeing her? Had she been awoken too? But nothing but blanks came up, he remembered the faces of the members of HYDRA who had awoken him and when they had given him the mission and then collected his report when he returned. But he could not be sure if he remembered Amelia being there…

"I guess to Germany then?" she then asked rhetorically before she headed for the door. The two men went to follow but Bucky stopped by the door to glance to the chair where in his dream he always was first seated. Taking one last look at the place he come to know so well through his dreams.

 _No matter what the world is like. I'll be waiting._

"Just wait a little longer." Bucky murmured to himself before turning to make his final exit of the room. If Steve heard what he had said he made no comment on it. Instead the two friends strode with a purpose out of the abandoned HYDRA building, heading to the next destination, each praying it would hold more answers for them.

* * *

Alright, so now two chapters in and I hope everyone is enjoying!

Please leave a review with some feedback, comments or critiques - all are welcome!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note;**

Here we go with chapter three! So far this has been an effortless writing journey for me, never before have I had chapters out this quickly. I am having so much fun writing this story & I hope you lovely readers are having fun with this story as well. Thank you for the reviews! I adore receiving them, they have motivated my writing. Now I will need to say that I am strictly following the MCU-verse. I have not read the comics. Also I am trying to dutifully follow the timelines put forth in the movie as much as I can but I obviously have to make up information or supply missing pieces where I see fit.

As I am sure you guys have noticed (and some of you have commented in reviews) I don't currently have a beta or editor for this story, I try and catch my mistakes but I obviously am not perfect. I do greatly appreciate you guys pointing them out to me. I am always trying to improve and if you have any notes on my writing or style I do welcome it.

Also for this chapter we do have the first flashback, all flashbacks that are done in italics are purely for context or background information. So just keep that in mind going forward! And as always, please leave a review at the end with your comments, critiques and thoughts! I love hearing from you guys.

* * *

 **BELGIUM – OCTOBER 12th 1946**

 _"We are having trouble containing Sergeant Barnes." one assistant said in a hushed voice to Dr. Zola who looked up from the paperwork on his desk. It had been two years since the recovering of the American and Dr. Zola had hardly been able to contain his excitement as regaining one of his experimentation subjects – the fact that he was also the best friend of Captain America had just been an added bonus, how irony had a funny way of working itself. So far he was proving to be the best investment HYDRA had made, he had survived the surgery to outfit him with the new robotic arm, years of imprisonment and more. But there was that difficult problem of getting him to comply with their plans – how could he not see all the good HYDRA wanted to accomplish?_

 _"We just need to motivate him." Dr. Zola responded thoughtfully before adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "However we need to find the right motivation… he has not given in to starvation or sleep deprivation… he is truly remarkable." He then said, in truth his determination was admirable but it was interfering with their plans. HYDRA needed a weapon to use against its enemies, a soldier that took orders without question. They certainly had means to destroy the man, reduce him to nothing but a thoughtless machine of muscle and skill… but such measures may almost certainly kill him sooner rather than later._

 _"We will simply have to take more drastic measures… Does he have any family?" the doctor asked as he stood from his seat and left the office, his assistant following after him as they headed down to the laboratory where the new asset was being kept in._

 _"None alive that our agents can find Doctor." The other man stated, "The closest he had to family was Captain Steve Rogers, who MIA over the Northern Circle."_

 _Dr. Zola grunted under his breath… Love, it was a powerful motivator. It would make men crawl over glass and scorching embers if one simply held a gun to the head of a loved one._

 _"However…" the assistant then said lowly, thoughtfully. Dr. Zola came to a sudden stop and turned to face the man._

 _"Yes?"_

 _"Last night, Sergeant Barnes reacted when he saw Subject 24601 being taken from the holding cells to the south wing for testing. Though we have never had them in contact he called her by her given name, they seem to know each other for she called to him as well." The assistant then said and suddenly started shuffling through the pile of files he was carrying with him, looking for the one in question. Finally after a moment he produced the file and handed it over to Dr. Zola he eagerly flipped it open._

 _"She is slotted for the Valkyrie project yes?" he said and glanced over the file. "Captured in France…. Amelia J. Wittmore, of British descent… found to possess inhuman abilities and was subjected to five exposures to the Tesseract before it was lost, all of which successfully grew her latent potential." He read some parts aloud as he considered. Yes, this would work perfectly, how had he not thought of it before? This was the answer he needed... and if she and the Sergeant Barnes knew each other…_

 _"Bring the fraulein_ _to the laboratory, I think it is time subject 24601 and the asset become better acquainted." Dr. Zola said a satisfied smirk crossing his lips. "They will have lots of work to do together."_

 _Before the hour was out Dr. Zola was in the laboratory with the asset, who was glaring at him through the steel bars that contained him. Already since his time in the facility he had severely injured no less than a dozen guards and assistants. He had been a strong and a capable soldier before Dr. Zola had gotten his hands on him, since acquiring him he had become more so. All his experiments were working, so far Sergeant Barnes was showing enhanced strength, speed and reflexes. It would be such a same to put down their most valuable investment, he just had so much potential._

 _"Really Sergeant Barnes, can we not work together?" Dr. Zola asked, "Is the betterment of mankind not an noble goal?" he then asked. Sergeant Barnes lifted his head from where he was in his cell, his jaw set in a hard line and her brow furrowed with anger. If looks could kill, then this would be one to do so._

 _"Go to hell." Barnes replied and then spat at the ground in disgust._

 _"Come now, surely we can find some agreement?" the doctor said just as the door opened and two guards came in dragging a struggling petite brown haired figure inside. As she was dragged to stand next to Zola, her head snapped up and hazel eyes found blue ones. There was a sudden scrapping along the ground as Sergeant Barnes suddenly bolted up from his cot in the cell and moved right up to the bars. His eyes were wide with panic as he looked to the woman. Zola smirked, so the assistant had been right. Glancing to the girl he saw a similar expression as she started at Sergeant Barnes with a heartbroken expression and neither of them could look away from each other._

 _He now had them both right where he wanted them._

 _Stepping sideways Dr. Zola then waved the guards back, the girl jerked her arms away from the men and she glanced to the doctor and then back to the asset. She tried to school her expression this time, but it was too late. The doctor had already seen the looks on their faces, knew that whatever their relationship and how it came to be, these two knew each other and cared for each other deeply._

 _"Now… Sergeant Barnes…" he then said and then reached out and brushed a lock of hair back from Subject 24601's face, the back of his fingers gently passed against her cheek. The girl tried to pull back and the man in the cell let out a roar as he hit against the enforced steel bars. In response, one of the guards that had brought the girl in raised a gun to the back of her head, bringing both her and the soldier to freeze in place._

 _"You sack of swine." Sergeant Barnes uttered lowly as he glared at the guard who was holding the gun. Again if looks could kill..._

 _Zola smiled as he then gripped the girls chin and tilted her head to the side, the brunette did not put up the same resistance as before. She did not even look to him but instead was looking towards Barnes, a shimmer of tears in her eyes. "Are you absolutely sure an agreement cannot be made?" the doctor then taunted as he turned his eyes back to the asset and saw the look on defeat in the soldier's eyes._

 _Dr. Zola had found the right motivation after all._

* * *

 **GERMANY – JUNE 4th 2017**

Being in Germany had been more difficult than Ukraine had been, the facility in Dresden was not one that they could just fly too without being seen. The facility was located near the train station, an industrial building that was unassuming but very much housed HYDRA, hiding in plain sight. Even if one walked into the main level they would not suspect a thing, everything of importance was kept in the lower levels and was heavily guarded.

"How did we not find this one sooner?" Steve asked, with all of the documents that Natasha had leaked to the world, one would think that HYDRA would not have been able to hide a place such as this for as long had it apparently had. Bucky sighed, maybe Steve would never know or understand the depths that HYDRA had gone too, to be able to do as it pleased.

"Only certain people knew this facility. It was kept off the books from all the others. There are about five more like it in the world and they all had codenames as well, so even if someone found out about one, they had no identifying information." Bucky revealed lowly before glancing over his shoulder. His eyes looking for any small sign of danger. They had been forced to land the jet way outside of the city and make their way in.

Romanoff was staying behind on standby at the jet for a quick extraction if need be. Armed with nothing but a pistol tucked against his back, a hat, glasses and hood pulled up over his head, Bucky felt very exposed. It was indeed amazing how nothing but a hat and glasses could make them –two very wanted and recognizable men nearly invisible in crowded streets. However Bucky's eyes were sharp, HYDRA's training at least gave him the tools to be able to stay hidden and stay vigilant. It was dusk by the time both Bucky and Steve had reached the train station and scoped out the HYDRA building from a safe distance. It was definitely not abandoned, they could see some guards posted to the entrance and a few people left over the time that they were watching – they would have to wait until night had fully descended, when the building would be least occupied, before they would try to breach it. They would not have long, once they were inside alarms would be raised. If Amelia or any information about her was contained in that building they would have to find it fast.

Bucky stared intently at the building, as if by staring alone he would know if what he was looking for inside. He could remember leaving this building when he had been woken in 1991 and sent to kill Howard Stark and recover the serum. After that mission he had not been returned to Europe, instead he was frozen in an American HYDRA facility. He had walked away from this place before with no idea that maybe the girl from his memory had been there too.

"You ready?" Steve asked once it had gotten dark enough. Bucky simply nodded in response, he had been ready since the moment he had woken up from the dream that first time. He needed answers, to find her, to find out what happened to her, to find out what she had meant to HYDRA and to him.

"We'll cut the power, there is backup generators that will kick in, but it will get us fifteen minutes max to get in without the cameras noticing." Steve said as he prepared a charge, it would overrun the circuit board and temporarily cut the power. Hopefully those manning the building inside would think it is nothing but a power surge and nothing more. But Bucky was not convinced, he was sure they would not take any chance if they housed HYDRA secrets inside.

Together the two men made their way to the back of the train station, across the darkened tracks and then to the simple chain link fence that surrounded the complex. Bucky used the strength of his metal arm to rip a section of it down. They would try and get in as quietly as they could, to give themselves as much time as possible. They were able to set the charge onto the circuit box scaled a service ladder to get access to the roof. Bucky was counting the seconds in his head, his instincts were kicking in as he moved with Steve to a door, it would have been locked by the security system but it swung open quietly will no electricity to power the locks.

Taking out the gun from its place tuck at his lower back Buck raised it up as they quietly made their entrance. Everything was quiet and dark, emergency lights gave the hallways a red hue. Both men were keeping their eyes and ears peeled for any noise. They did not reach any trouble until they moved down to the main level. No lethal force was needed to take out two guards who were walking the main floor. Bucky and Steve were able to knock them out and bar them into a closet. Taking their radios and ID badges they continued on – next came the greater challenge, getting access to the lower levels. The elevators were out so they took the stairs and then reached their first check point. With a swipe of the badge they were into the lower levels and Bucky felt his shoulders tense as the familiarity of this place washed over him.

"Buck?" Steve's voice asked from behind him in a low tone.

"I'm good." Bucky responded before he slowly walked forward. They moved in single file, their steps timed to make sure they did not make too much noise or attract any attention. They went room by room as quickly as possible to clear them. With each passing moment they knew they were getting closer to being stuck in a situation where they would have to fight their way out. Heading down one more level Bucky had to take out a guard in the stairwell, the shot was muffled by the silencer that was attached to his barrel. The body fell but both Steve and Bucky knew they had no time now to cover their tracks. They had less than ten minutes before power would fully return.

With each room that they cleared Bucky was losing hope that they would find anything. Entering to the fifth room on that level they found that it was filled with file cabinets, perhaps if there were any clues it would be there. Each man looked into different cabinets, looking for anything labeled Valkyrie, Amelia or her potential W last name. Finally they found not just one file but thirteen all labeled under Project Valkyrie - finally something, some solid proof that Amelia existed. As they opened a file Bucky found himself staring down at an old black and white photograph of the brunette from his dreams, the same one that he had drawn in his notebook. It was clearly a photo of her before she was captured by HYDRA, wearing a blue dress, a white bow in her hair and a smile on her face. She was radiant and this image of her resonated with him. He took the photo as Steve quickly scanned through the files, finding any information that could lead to her current whereabouts.

Bucky's blue eyes scanned the first file and soaked in as much information as he could; Amelia J. Wittmore, born June 5th 1921…. Captured in France….

"Bucky." Steve suddenly said and the dark haired male lifted his head and looked to his friend.

"This is the last recorded place of her." Steve said and the gravity of what he said sunk in. In all likelihood she was here. _She was here._ "We have five minutes." He then added and Bucky nodded breathing in deeply. _She was here._

Now with urgency they left the room, Steve brought the files with them knowing they may need them in the future. Bucky was of a single thought, find her. He moved and glanced into different rooms but saw nothing that suggested that they contained the cryogenic devices so he moved on. Rounding a corner They found two guards standing sentry at a large galvanized steel door, a door he recognized as being one he passed through after he had been woken from his own cryogenic sleep.

"Stop!" one of the guards called before they raised their weapons, But Bucky was quicker, deadly instinct took over and he raised his gun once more and fired two shots with precision. With two thuds each body fell and Bucky strode forward. Since starting to regain his memories he had not wanted to take an unnecessary life, but this night he had taken three but he knew each was working for HYDRA, they probably had hands drenched in blood, but it did not absolve him of all the blood he had on his. Maybe if he did find Amelia he could truly start down some path to redemption.

Walking up to the door he tried to swipe the ID card he had taken from the first but it the screen flashed red and a low beep of denial. Bucky faltered, how would they gain access to this now? Steve was quick thinking as he leaned down and took the badge from one of the fallen sentries and then handed it to Bucky. A swipe with this card and there was a flash of green before the steel door swung open. The draft from the room was instantly cooler and Bucky moved robotically as he stepped in. Inside the vault was four cryogenic chambers, however only one was frosted over - showing it actively contained someone inside.

"Natasha… we need an extraction. Land the jet on the roof, we will need to try and get up the lift…" Steve radioed to Romanoff.

"Copy that." Came the static reply of a woman's voice.

Slowly Bucky strode forward his breath coming in deep shallow breaths and he approached the operational capsule. Raising his real hand he ran it over the glass front, brushing away the frost. It revealed the form of a petite female inside the cryogenic capsule, her skin paler than it should be, her lips blue, frost clung to her hair and even her dark eyelashes. She was just as beautiful as he memory of her and her picture had suggested.

 _She was real_.

There was a resonating feeling in Bucky's chest that stemmed from some unknown. He looked to her face, frozen in time and he could feel the familiarity ringing in his mind. He also felt the deep seeded urge to break open the machine, just to get her out of that awful contraption as soon as possible. But he knew she had to be woken up the right way, a safe way. They did not have the time to do so right now, they would just have to take the entire machine with Amelia inside with them. This would be the most difficult and important mission Bucky ever did.

Suddenly the lights came on and the alarm started to sound.

"Time to go Buck." Steve said to him and the Winter Soldier responded with a nod. The escape began.

* * *

Dun, dun duhhhhh. So they found her!

Whatcha guys thinking so far? Write me a review with your feedback and critiques - I welcome it all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note;**

Firstly I hope everyone had a great long weekend! Next, oh my gawd, I have never pumped out so much writing so consistently and quickly. This idea has been living inside my brain so long that is just feels good to finally put all my ideas down and have them out there for people to read. It also feels so good to wake up the day after posting a chapter and to have so many new follower, favs and reviews posted - I do want to say that I adore each and every review that you guys leave me. So this chapter is dedicated to the readers who reviewed last chapter; **Imsebastianstanbutter, Sam0728, a soul of thunder, .2017, Hannah** & **Calliope's Scribe** \- this one if for you guys and I hope you enjoy this one as well!

Now as a special treat, you guys are getting a bit longer chapter today. _Woohooooo!_ I promise it is filled with lots of action and drama and maybe a little more drama and feels thrown on top. Please let me know how you guys like it and what you reactions or thoughts are on this chapters flashback.

As always enjoy this chapter and please leave me a review at the end!

* * *

 **GERMANY – JUNE 4th 2017**

"Well that could have gone better." Natasha remarked as the jet leveled out above the clouds. She turned her head looking at some of the various instruments and flipped some switches as she input the auto-pilot. She waited for the computer to kick in before she rose from the pilot's seat and moved to the back and looked to both Steve and Bucky. Each man looked spent, the scene that Natasha had flown into was a violent one. The moment she saw the mini battle on the rooftop she had been shocked, but when she realized they were dragging an entire cryogenic chamber with them she had to wonder what the hell had crossed both their minds. "I think it's safe to say we caught the attention of everyone in a 5 mile radius of that HYDRA base… I hope you guys weren't planning an extended tour of Europe, every international agent will now be looking for you."

"They were already looked for us." Steve pointed out as she stood from the spot where he had collapsed the moment that they had safely gotten on board of the jet. Both turned their heads and looked to where Bucky was sitting next to the capsule and was staring intently up at it. They each quietly watched him for a moment but Bucky didn't seem to notice either of them. Instead he was focused entirely on the girl frozen inside of the machine.

"How the hell did you guys even get this thing up to the roof?" Natasha asked Steve in an incredulous whisper.

The blonde haired man chuckled to himself. "You wouldn't even believe it if I explained it to you." he told her quietly.

"Man what I would give to see those security tapes." The red haired woman muttered as she crossed her arms. A moment passed and still Bucky did not seem to pay the other two any mind. He had raised his metal hand and placed it against the side of the capsule, he could feel the vibrations of the machine as it hummed with life.

Glancing sideways at Steve, Natasha then asked; "So now what do we do with sleeping beauty here?"

"There is enough power and liquid nitrogen built into the capsule as backups to keep her frozen until we reached Wakanda. From there I'm sure T'Challa can gather some scientists and doctors to safely wake her… Then finally Bucky can have his answers." Steve then said and then turned and looked down to the files that they had also stolen from HYDRA, maybe there were some answers in there. But the way that he noticed Bucky was staring at the girl in the capsule he doubted he would pull himself away. Steve then sat down on the other side of the jet and started to flip through the files, needing to know some information on how to best help not only the girl and Bucky.

Sadly there was little in ways of personal information, other than her name, date of birth there was little else to tell them where this girl had come from or why HYDRA had her. Much of the files were in either German or Swiss, but from what he could understand, Steve did notice how the files documented every time that she had been awoken from cryogenic sleep, it seemed she was mostly was awoken along with times that HYDRA woke Bucky. It made Steve wonder how closely they had been working together or how Bucky could have forgotten her. The files also indicated that she was subjected to extensive medical testing. He also noticed the terms enhanced inhuman had been added to the doctor's charts. It made Steve wonder, looking up he looked to the capsule – was Amelia another subject of HYDRA's experiments with the Tesseract?

"My mind keeps stuttering." Bucky said and Steve looked up from the files in his hands. Natasha had returned to the pilot's seat and was currently making contact with Wakanda to let them know of their imminent return.

"It's like there is just a block… not just a blank… I replay that memory in my head of her and I try to go back and find something... anything else but I just can't find it." He continued lowly. "How can I feel like I know her so well and have nothing? That memory… it haunts me every moment." He then concluded and finally turned his eyes towards his friend. The torn look on his face said it all – he was a man lost and desperately trying to find something to hold onto.

"You still have a chance Buck, once she is awake she can hopefully give you the answers you need." Steve then responded lowly.

"I don't just need answers Steve… I need her. All I can remember was the way she looked at me… there was something there, something more." Bucky then said lowly, almost a whisper like he was afraid to admit it out loud.

* * *

 **BELGIUM – OCTOBER 13th 1946**

 _"Stop!" the brunette cried as she watched Bucky strain against the restraints that held him to the chair while the electrodes that were attached to each side of his head, pulsing energy into his mind. Amelia was being held back by two soldiers, another two were stationed behind where Bucky was, their guns half raised. "Stop it! You have to stop hurting him!" she cried again tears spilling over her cheeks. Dr. Zola smiled, everything was going just as he wanted it too._

 _Flicking off the electrodes, Sergeant Barnes' body went slack in the chair. The man was breathing heavily and a low pain-filled groan escaped him. Dr. Zola turned to face Amelia before he crossed a few steps and came to stand between her and Sergeant Barnes._

 _"Have I convinced you yet fraulein?" the doctor asked as he looked over the brunette who turned her hazel eyes to him. Those bright orbs were filled with disgust and hate. "Will you do as I ask now?"_

 _Breathing in deeply the brunette hesitated. Then her expression softened and her eyes then shifted to the ground._

 _"Do I need to turn the machine back on?" the doctor then asked and then took a step back towards the controls of the machine. The girl then flinched as if she would try and stop him. The guards holding her in place tightened their hold on her and pulled her back. Still she resisted, when she could not break free she suddenly stilled. Her hands moved and she grasped the wrists of the men whose hands were on her shoulders holding her in place. All three figures stilled and a moment later the men's eyes glazed over before they crumpled to the ground – unconscious. She stepped away from the unconscious bodies of the fallen men and glared towards the doctor._

 _"Very impressive, so much power." Zola then said and gave a dramatic clap of his hands._

 _"I won't help you make him a monster." The brunette then said firmly, her voice breaking as she spoke. Her eyes flickered to Barnes again._

 _"You mistake me fraulein, we will do what we need to do. With or without you…" he then said and walked back towards her. "We have the means to make him the new fist of HYDRA with this very machine, but it has side effects. That progress comes at a cost… but you can help us and help him. You can save him pain."_

 _"Amelia…." Bucky's voice moaned lowly from the chair. The brunette's face reflected pain as the man in the chair called to her._

 _"So what shall it be?" Zola questioned her. A silence fell over the room and the girl looked to the solider and her face contorted with despair. It did not take having the girls abilities to know what was running through her mind, either help and save the man some pain and perhaps an early end or be forced to watch them take more drastic and painful measures to get the same results. She had to power to consent and save the man some pain. After a moment the girl bowed her head in reluctant defeat._

 _"I'll do it…." She barely said loud enough for the doctor to hear._

 _"The terms are simple, you make the asset obey these words and these words alone." Zola said and then picked up a package and then brought it over to the girl and then handed it to her. She hesitated to take the package but then her shaky hands opened it and she pulled out a red leather bound book from inside. A black star embossed on the cover stood out to her. "I understand you know some Russian, yes?" the doctor then asked as she opened the first page and tears rolled down her face._

 _Looking to the Winter Soldier her tears continued to silently fall as she realized what she was about to do to him._

 _"Begin." Dr. Zola commanded and watched the girl dryly swallow. She was still for a moment and then she began to speak;_

 _"Тоска….. Ржавый… Семнадцать… рассвет…." Broken and reluctant Russian came out of her mouth. Her hazel eyes connected to Sergeant Barnes, and his eyes locked to hers as well –soaking in the words that was being implanted into his mind._

* * *

 **WAKANDA – JUNE 5th 2016**

Even though they arrived in the early morning hours and had been on the go for nearly four days straight - Bucky refused to leave the girl in the cryogenic capsule. As she was unloaded from the jet by a small army of technicians and medical professionals he refused to leave, he even would threaten any who might have handled the capsule too roughly. As she was brought into a state of the art medical facility Bucky refused the urging of Steve to go rest, eat and even hydrate himself. As soon as doctors started to evaluate her condition as well as the machine she was being kept frozen in the Winter Soldier began questioning when they would wake her. But every answer they gave was not soon enough for Bucky, they wanted to delay to try and glean any information from the machine – one doctor was worried that she had been under too longer to rush waking her.

Steve in the end had to calm Bucky from probably breaking that doctor because apparently Bucky thought the doctor insinuated that they would never wake the girl. The facility quickly became crowded as other members of the Avengers showed up either out of curiosity or concern for their companions. Most had been regulated to a waiting area – which conveniently was on the other side of a glass wall so they could still see everything that was going on.

One thing that Bucky was incredibly grateful for was that T'Challa had brought some of the greatest doctors, engineers and technicians to Wakanda to deal with the very unique case of Amelia, the girl frozen in time. As gruff as the soldier was with those assigned to care for the girl he wanted them to do better, to get her awake as soon as possible – free her from the ice prison that HYDRA had put her in. Again he sat next to the capsule, no one had been any to convince him to move out of arms reach of her and would barely move his eyes from it. As if he was afraid if he looked away or left that she would disappear again.

Off to the side Steve approached T'Challa who had been talking with the head doctor, likely about the treatment plan for the girl.

"Thank you for this." Steve said lowly and looked out over the misty mountainous landscape just outside the window.

"Your friend and my father, they were both victims…" T'Challa said in a serious and contemplative tone. Clearly recent events and revelations had weighted heavily on the young king's mind. "If I can help one of them find peace…"

"You know if _they_ find out that they are here, they will come for them." Steve then said, they had caused quite the scene in Germany with the rescue of Amelia that had surely drawn the attention of SHEILD, the United Nations and whatever remained of HYDRA as well. If any one of those organizations traced them back to Wakanda it could mean war.

T'Challa however smirked with confidence before he said; "Let them try."

Steve looked to the King and then smiled. At least T'Challa did not seem concerned by an impending fight, if it should come. Wakanda had truly impressed him, it became more clear to Steve how much a small nation had maintained so much mystery over the years when they had first arrived there. Any person who would try and challenge this nation, its King or its people might sorely regret ever doing so. And for Steve at least that meant that Bucky had a real chance to have some safety and security to get himself pulled together. Now that they had discovered and recovered Amelia, Steve further hoped that she would unravel some of the unknowns and be able to give Bucky some clarity and peace at last.

Footsteps sounded behind the two men and each turned to face one of the nurses on the medical team.

"Dr. Abernathy believes we can start waking her tonight." The blonde haired nurse reported to them and Steve turned his gaze towards where Bucky was still seated with the cryogenic chamber. Unmoved since he last looked his way.

"I'll let Bucky know." Steve told T'Challa before he stepped away to return to the inside of the medical lab and over to his friend.

Telling Bucky went just as well as Steve expected. There was obvious relief from Bucky once he knew that Amelia would be woken up soon, but was still anxious for that moment to occur. When doctors, assistants and technicians started to do their final check over, Bucky hovered – again, not allowing anything to be done to the capsule that wasn't supposed to. However a couple hours later the doctors were finally ready. Steve stood with Bucky and Natasha lingered to the side with T'Challa who were in the room to observe, on the other side of the glass wall was a small gathering of the other Avengers who all anxiously watching what was about to unfold. A few last checks were made before the defrost began.

Bucky was standing with his arms crossed and his fists tightened, he was nothing but a bundle of nerves and his sniper trained eyes were locked on Amelia. The latches were undone and the cover of the capsule lifted and he was able to see Amelia fully. She was as petite as his memory had suggested she would be, she was dressed in non-descript pant, form fitting pants and then a generic grey sweater that was slightly too big for her. As the machine hissed, parts whined with movement as it started to reverse the cryogenic suspension. Cool mist floated out of the machine and everyone in the room seemed to be waiting with baited breath for the process to be complete.

It took forty minutes before any true signs of waking started, her core temperature had to be raised once the liquid nitrogen stopped being pumped by the machine. Her lips turned from her blueish tint to a steadily more pink color and the frost that clung to her skin and hair melted. The doctors began to mill about looking for signs of life and Bucky started to worry – he had only ever been on the other end of this and had no idea how waking from cryogenic sleep looked to an observer. Had she been under too long? The files they had stolen from HYDRA indicated she hadn't even been woken when he had been in 1991… perhaps there was too long a time to be in this state where you just couldn't wake up again. His jaw clenched as he pushed those thoughts aside and took one large step forward, as if by his presence along she would be compelled to wake.

A couple more minutes passed and some light color returned her to cheeks, but not breathing… That was until her whole body shuddered – it was like a wave that moved from her stomach up her spine and her mouth flew open and she made a desperate gasp. Eyes flew open in a wide panic and flew upwards to the ceiling as she sucked a second deep gasp, the need to fill her lungs with fresh air was crucial. By her awakening the clamps around her forearms that had held her into the machine snapped open. With nothing to hold her in her body started to fall forward, she was too weak and unaware to keep herself upright. Bucky went to move forward to catch her but two doctors at her side caught each of her arms first.

For a moment it seemed that the girl had fainted when he head had slumped forward, but her hands snapped to clasp onto the arms of the doctors. Her head snapped up and she looked to the two people holding her and then suddenly each doctor collapsed to the floor seeming to shake as they did. Before anyone could realize what had happened the brunette was moving, trying to dash away from the sea of bodies that were surrounding her, looking for an escape. It was not a well thought out one, her knees buckled as she went and she crashed into a table, sending a tray of items scattering on the ground. When another assistant went to try and stop her they too fell to the ground the moment they touched her.

"She's enhanced! Sedate her!" one doctor called for and the blonde nurse scrambled for a large syringe filled with a sedative and passed it off to the doctor. Natasha reacted with her instincts and pulled the gun from the holster strapped around her thigh and pointed it at the girl. The brunette noticed the weapon pointed at her and froze, her face hard and determined but her hazel eyes betrayed the confidence in her stance, the fear in her eyes was evident – yet she stood still as she could, even though her whole body swayed with weakness from being awoken from a long cryogenic sleep.

As a few doctors surrounded her, armed with restraints or needles to sedate her and Bucky reacted violently see Amelia surrounded by those she clearly feared. He knocked a nearby metal table across the floor and it knocked over two doctors.

"NOBODY TOUCH HER!" Bucky roared in anger. His words and actions finally drew the attention of the brunette to him and the moment her eyes landed on him then widened and her expression faltered to one of pain and confusion. She seemed to forget who she was surrounded by and stepped forward - moving closer to him.

As she was distracted a doctor took the chance to step forward and stick a syringe filled with the sedative into her side. The girl winced with pain and her hand snapped to pull the syringe out, but it was too late the medicine had been fully injected into her. Bucky did not react well to this at all. His eyes turned to the doctor, and there was no mercy in them.

The Winter Soldier had found his next target.

"Oh shit…" Natasha breathed.

Steve moved first to intervene as he came to stand before Bucky and stop his advance on the doctor. Bucky however seemed not to care and went to swing his fist at his friend to get him out of the way. Suddenly they were in a brawl much like the one they had once fought on the heli-carrier in Washington DC. Punches were thrown and blocks made, Natasha crossed the room to try and help Steve restrain Bucky. Behind them all the brunette collapsed to her knees which only drove Bucky to become more desperate to reach her.

"Buck! She's okay!" Steve yelled as he ducked from another swing. "Come on man, don't make me do this." However Bucky seemed beyond reach, his highly attuned senses were only focused on the brunette – watching as one of the medical team crouched behind her to support her before she fully collapsed to her knees.

Natasha maneuvered herself behind the swinging soldier ready to knock him out to get him to stop and T'Challa was waving down guards who had stormed the room to react to the situation. However before anyone could do anything to put an end to the dark haired man's rampage, a voice broke out over the room;

"Bucky!" it was a soft females voice, that weakly rose up but managed to be loud enough to still everything in the room.

Like flipping a switch Bucky came to a freezing halt, Steve had been prepared to take a hit but when it did not come he dropped the arm that was held up before his face protectively and looked to his friend. He saw that same frenzied look in his eyes that he had seen before when he was under HYDRA's mental control on the other face but it slowly faded and turned to look to the girl. From the looks of it Amelia was fighting to resist the sedative she had been administered, she kept blinking her eyes in an effort to keep them open. Everything in the room was so still, no one dared move…

Slowly Bucky lower his raised arms and moved towards the brunette and the guards suddenly snapped their guns up at him.

"Hold your fire." T'Challa quickly and firmly commanded.

Every single person watched with baited breath as the Winter Soldier moved to the girl. Once he fell to his knees before her the assistant moved back, afraid to be close to the man. But the brunette did not fear the man before her, she weakly and lethargically moved to him and Bucky slipped his arms around her, pulling her petite frame close to his. He could feel the lingering chill from her frozen slumber clinging to her skin.

Bucky's hands gripped tightly into her clothing, as if afraid that somehow she might disappear, faded away into nothingness right out his arms. His mind was a blank. All he was thinking was that she was real. _She was real_.

"You found me…." Her voice whispered to him and her eyes met his for a moment before finally she gave into the sedative and her eyes rolled back, her body went limp in his arms.

Bucky's eyes widened as he looked down at her. His mind faltered for a second before more of his training kicked in, but this was not the killer instincts that had, had a hold of him before… Check breathing – her breaths were soft, and steady, indicative of sleeping. Body temperature – cold and shivering, so Bucky crushed her frame to his to warm her.

 _She was real. She was real._

* * *

Finally reunited! Was it the way you guys expected it to go down? Thoughts on that flashback or what exactly Amelia's powers are?

Please leave a review with your thoughts, comments or critiques - I welcome it _all!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note;**

Well let's just keep trucking along now shall we? The response and love that this story is receiving continues to make me so happy. Thank you again for everyone who did review the last chapter and please keep them coming, I love reading your reactions.

Now of course this will be the first chapter we have where Amelia is awake and I am sure that you all are dying to find out how she and Bucky will be together. Fear not I do get around to some Bucky and Amelia interaction this chapter. Also you will find out what exactly Amelia's enhanced powers are!

Now without further adieu here is chapter six! And don't forget to please leave me a review at the end!

* * *

 **BELGIUM – OCTOBER 19th 1946**

 _"Bucky!" Amelia called from the other side of a wall of bars as she struggled with a pair of guards. The Winter Soldier stiffened and he turned and looked to the girl being brought in. His shoulders locked and he turned and went to the bars and shook them firmly his mental hand bent a bar but even he was not strong enough to break the reinforced bars._

 _"Amelia!" the Sergeant called back to her and then turned his eyes to look at Dr. Zola, standing in the corner of the room with a smug look on his face._

 _"You swore she wouldn't be harmed." Bucky spat at him._

 _"I said that as long as you comply she would not be harmed." The doctor corrected him and Bucky heard a feminine whine and turned back to see the brunette being forced into the chair and strapped down, the electrodes for the machine being forcibly attached to her. She struggled but it was all in vain as three guards were able to easily overwhelm her._

 _"The machine does not affect her mind… but all the same it is quite painful." Dr. Zola said and that made Bucky snap and he crossed the room and grabbed the doctor by his lab coat and slammed him against the wall – holding him up off the ground._

 _"Mind yourself soldier." Dr. Zola wheezed and Bucky heard the sounds of a gun being cocked and he glanced over his shoulder to see one of the guards place the barrel of a gun right to the middle of the brunette's forehead. Amelia closed her eyes and visible tears rolled down her cheeks. "You brought this on yourself… You do as you are told and she will not suffer, it is as simple as that." The doctor continued._

 _Bucky gritted his teeth but let go of the man and turned to face Amelia, feeling relieved when the gun was removed from her head. However he watched her turn her eyes to him and he could see the fear in there._

 _"Asset… Finish your job." Zola commanded and Bucky then turned and looked to the man lying broken on the ground. He was a man who had learned too much, had discovered that HYDRA was operating behind the scenes of the newly formed SHEILD – he was a man who could not be turned to their cause and so instead he had to be destroyed. He had been given to the Winter Soldier to finish, and Bucky had resisted the command- he had beaten him at their order but he would not kill an innocent man… But glancing to where Zola had Amelia strapped to that cursed machine he knew he could not deny their commands._

 _For her, Bucky would do the unthinkable…. Just to keep her safe._

 _"Don't do it Bucky." Her voice sounded out to him and he turned and looked to her once again. "I'll be fine… I'll be fine…" the brunette then said and Zola frowned hearing this. He gave a small nod and one of the guards turned on the machine. The reaction was instant as a scream ripped from the girl's mouth as her body was pumped full of electrical currents._

 _"NO!" Bucky cried and again hit the bars as if he would be able to rip through the bars to get to her._

 _"There is one way to end her pain Sergeant Barnes." Zola said from behind him. The screams from the girl were unending and the petite girl writhed against the restraints that were holding her into the chair. "Kill this man and she will not suffer. The choice is yours." He then said and Bucky could take no more._

 _Bucky turned with a cold look in his eyes towards his target. If he had to corrupt his soul to save Amelia then he would, and he would do it again and again._

 _"No…. please…." The man on the ground begged, blood dripping from his mouth as he tried to crawl away from the Winter Soldier. His pleas however fell on deaf ears, Bucky could only think of one thing;_

 _For Amelia… For Amelia…. For Amelia…_

 _Without hesitation or delay Bucky reached down, getting to one knee and his metal hand reached out and grabbed the man with his metal arm. Methodical and quick, the man's pleading for his life came to a sudden end as Bucky snapped the neck with a flick of his hands. The body slumped and Bucky dropped him, his head snapped up to look to Zola to hold his end of the bargain. The doctor smirked with pride on how he had been able to get the results he wanted so easily. He snapped his fingers and on the other side of the room the machine was turned off and the screams came to an end._

 _"Very good." Zola said and gave a clap of his hands. "Now… I am not totally heartless… You will see her for a while as your reward. Is that not what you want?" he then asked and Bucky could say nothing. He knew he had done something horrible… maybe Amelia would forgive him… but he knew he would never forgive himself._

 _The door between the two sides of the room was opened and Bucky quickly went to the brunette girl and ripped the electrodes off of her head. The restraints snapped open and he pulled her into his arms._

 _"Bucky?" her voice weakly asked. "What did you do?"_

 _"I'll do whatever I need too, to keep you safe." Bucky whispered to her. "I promise you, I will keep you safe Amelia."_

* * *

 **WAKANDA – JUNE 6th 2016**

It took a long time before Bucky would let a doctor even close enough to check on Amelia, it also took much convincing from Steve to make Bucky believe that no one there wanted to hurt the girl. But even when he allowed a doctor come close and examine her state, he did not release her from his arms. A deep seeded protective instinct had come alive in Bucky the moment he had seen Amelia and no force of earth seemed to be able to sway him now. Everyone in the room was still on edge and their eyes trained on Bucky. The doctors however were able to confirm that the girl seemed to be okay even after her awakening from many years in cryogenic suspension, all her vitals were strong.

It was then that Steve suggested to Bucky that they take her to a room where she could rest properly. The Winter Soldier seemed unsure but Steve made promises that they would not be separated and that they could be alone that he finally agreed. It was only Steve and Natasha that escorted him from the medical lab and to the residential apartments they had been granted for their stay in Wakanda. Bucky did not speak during their transition and once they were returned to his room he took Amelia to the bed and lay her down on it – being ever careful to lay her head gently down on the pillows.

"You think he's okay?" Natasha asked Steve as they stood just outside in the hallway and were looking in.

"I think so. I've never seen him like this…" Steve replied lowly. He had seen Bucky with many women, on dates and dancing but none had been like this. Bucky never kept girls long enough, but with Amelia he was different.

"This could be dangerous, that way he snapped back there, he could be a danger to her." the red haired woman said lowly and Steve nodded, he had not seen Bucky that way unless he was under HYDRA control. The trigger words that they had placed in his brain made him dangerous.

"I think Amelia is the only one in this country that is safe from Bucky." Steve then replied and gestured to the pair in the room. Never would anyone have though the 'Winter Soldier' would have a gentle bone in his body, but seeing Bucky raised his mechanical arm and brushed her hair back with such gentleness seemed like such a contradiction.

"We need to find out who and what she is. You saw what she did back there." Natasha insisted.

"She is the only one with those answers, but I don't think she is our enemy." Captain America responded lowly and a moment of silence passed between the two.

"I'll go check on how the doctors she took out are doing." the red haired woman said before she turned and made her way back down the hallway. Steve watched her make her way down the hallway before he quietly stepped into the room. He stayed along the edge of the room as not to seem threatening to Bucky – who seemed to react protectively at anything that seemed to threaten the brown haired girl.

For a while the room was utter silence, Steve just watched Bucky sit by the bedside and refused to look away from her. Bucky hardly even seemed to notice his friend's presence in the room.

But finally a couple hours later he spoke; "I'm sorry Steve, for what happened back there." He then said. Finally the dark haired man turned his head and looked over to his friend, his blue eyes were clear and Steve knew that Bucky, the real Bucky had returned. "I just… I saw her, I heard her call my name and the only thing I thought was that I had to protect her. Just protect her." he admitted.

"You didn't hurt anyone." Steve said in response.

"But I could have… I would have killed anyone who harmed her." she said gently. "I would have hurt you even, and I don't know who she even is."

"It didn't come to that Bucky, you were reacting on instinct." The blonde haired man said. "And she knew you Bucky, she called out to you." She reminded him. Of that moment where the girl had called out to him and that she had been able to stop Bucky in his violent rampage.

"She sounded just like she did in my dream." Bucky then said and looked back to the unconscious Amelia on the bed.

* * *

It was not until the very early morning hours before there was a sign of Amelia coming around from the sedative. The digital clock was flashing 1:27 am before the petite female on the bed stirred. Bucky was immediately at attention at her bed side and Steve remained where he was and watched the girl slowly wake. Her eyes fluttered open and she turned her head, it seemed for a moment that she stared up at the ceiling before she realized she was somewhere new. Suddenly she sat up her eyes wide as she looked about the clinically white room.

"Amelia?" Bucky asked tentatively from her side and the girls head snapped towards him. Like before her eyes widened as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. A stillness took over the room as soldier looked to girl and she stared back. Then she moved, slowly… tentatively as she crawled to the edge of the bed and her hand reached out, brushing back some of Bucky's longer hair back from his eyes.

"Bucky?" she questioned lightly, tears coming to her eyes. Bucky was looking at her with an equal look of shock and awe. "You know me?" the brunette then asked lowly. Bucky hesitated a moment, but after a moment he gave a half nod.

"I remember you… You told me to find you." He then responded.

This answer seemed to please Amelia as her lips spread into a smile and then she launched from the bed and into Bucky's body. Her arms surrounded his shoulders and Bucky naturally brought his arms up to catch the girl and held her to him as well. Amelia's face buried to the side of Bucky's neck and her petite body shook slightly with silence sobs. For the moment Bucky was stunned, his body reacted in a way his mind couldn't fully understand, tears came to his own eyes as he held her tight to him. After a moment Amelia pulled back and she leaned her forehead against his.

"You found me." The brunette repeated the words she had said earlier to him, before she had fallen unconscious.

It was a surreal moment for Steve to watch, he briefly lowered his gaze as he felt he was intruding on a moment that was meant to be private. The couple stared at each other sharing in tears of joy and relief as they held each other. But finally after a moment Steve cleared his throat to make sure his presence wasn't forgotten.

Both heads of dark hair lifted and turned to look to the blonde haired man. The set of hazel eyes widened to see the man standing on the other side of the room.

"Steve?" she then questioned in surprise which took both men by surprise.

"You know me?" Steve then asked as he took a step forward. He was certain he had never met this girl before, but how did she know who he was just by looking at him.

Amelia glanced to Bucky who had his own brows furrowed in confusion. "Well… I know who you are but I don't know you myself." She answered and glanced back to Steve. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

"That would certainly be the case." Steve then said. A low sigh escaped Amelia and then she shifted on Bucky's lap, pulling back but Bucky quickly tightened his arms. His instincts demanding he not let her go.

"I owe you a lot of answers… I'm not sure how or even where to start." The brunette said and she then looked to Bucky and raised her hand and touched the side of his face, the soft pads of her fingers brushing over the stubble coating the hard edges of his jaw.

"I don't know where to start as well." Bucky admitted, he had been running for four straight days… searching for four straight days – he had been focused on finding her and the answers that she had. But now that he was sitting, face to face with her, it was hard to even know where to begin. What should he ask her first?

"I'll ask first then," Steve said drawing both of their attention back to him. "-where did you come from and what are you to HYDRA?" he asked, his voice gentle even if his questions were direct and to the point. There were a few silent breaths that filled the room.

"I was born in Brighton, England… in September 1922. To HYDRA I was a test subject, ever since I was a child I knew I was… _different_. I was in France when I was captured by the Germans… when someone realized how I was different I was sent to Dr. Zola's facility, where I was exposed to the Tesseract." She then explained, confirming most of what Steve had read in the files they had recovered.

"How do we know each other?" Bucky then spoke, asking his first question.

Amelia's eyes met his and a look flashed through her eyes. She could recalled the first time she had seen find fondly, it had been a memory that had fueled her, kept her going through years of captivity and all the heartache she had suffered.

"We met in France… I was living with my mother's family in a small town called Barcelonnette. You had been stationed there to protect the town from Nazi invasion…. We met on a sunny day, you found me under a willow tree just outside the town…" Amelia said and Bucky hung off her every word. His mind kept trying to reach out and grasp the memories he should, have had of this encounter but again he reached that block that kept him from them.

"-You were there for two months before your infantry regiment was sent to fight in Italy…" she concluded and Bucky closed his eyes for a moment, trying to process all this information of things he could not remember for himself.

"And what were we to each other?" he asked his voice barely more than a whisper.

A small laugh escaped the brunette. "At first you were the silly American who found any excuse to talk to me… but I fell in love with you… and you fell in love with me. You promised to come back once you were 'finished kicking the Nazis butts'…" she then told him and Bucky looked to her with wide eyes. Of course he remembered her saying those words in his dream.

 _Just know I love you_ …

But hearing her say them was a different experience entirely. Deep inside his chest he knew he could not deny the things he felt towards her, he may not remember falling in love with her… but his heart did.

"You didn't come back though. I got no letters… I feared the worst. When I was captured… I always thought of you, hoped that you were alive somewhere. But then one day as I was being moved from a lab back to my cell at HYDRA… I saw you, I saw that they had you too."

"What about my memories?" Bucky then asked, recalling the dream he had.

 _Your memories will be safe with me…_

 _I'll leave you this one memory… to guide you back to me. When you have the power to remember on your own._

Amelia gave a small nod, "HYDRA found once I had been exposed to the Tesseract I had powers… They called me, enhanced or inhuman. Zola told me I was like a god, with powers men could only dream of, and he wanted me to use them for HYDRA's purposes. I refused… they did many things to try and convince me… but they couldn't until you came." She explained before sucking in a deep breath. "My powers included reading minds and manipulating memories, they wanted me to gather information for them."

Both men listened intently to her.

"They wanted me to make you into the Winter Soldier… To make you obey them." She then admitted lowly.

"Well it seems you did do that." Steve remarked his voice now laced with a little suspicion.

"Not willingly… Zola was willing to do anything to make Bucky the soldier HYDRA wanted, he would have done it the hard way or the easy way. I was given a choice, to spare Bucky the torture of their machines or watch him suffer… So yes, I did do it but only so they wouldn't destroy the one I love before my very eyes." Amelia responded quickly tears falling down her eyes.

"That still doesn't explain what happened to all of Bucky's memories." Steve then said.

"I took them." The brunette then said and she raised her hand and touched the side of her head. "I kept them for him… for you." Amelia said and she turned back and she looked to Bucky. "All those things they were asking you to do… making you do… it was destroying you. You did it all to protect me, as HYDRA used me to make you comply at the beginning… I couldn't stand how much it was tearing you apart." She then said and a few tears slipped down her face.

"That day they brought you too me, you were so broken. I knew I had to save you the only way I could. I took your memories so they couldn't erase them forever."

"You have my memories?" Bucky asked lowly.

"Yes." Amelia said gently.

"Can you give them back to him?" Steve spoke up from behind them.

Amelia looked to Steve before she spoke; "Only if Bucky really wants me too."

* * *

To get his memories back or not? What do you think of what Amelia has revealed so far?

Alright! Now time for a story recommendation, recently started reading _**Rehabilitate**_ by **GracelesslyFalling.**

Summary: The Winter soldier has never known kindness from anyone. When he starts receiving it from the new doctor brought to Hydra against her will, it resonates in him. Even after being wiped, he remembers her face, that she is a friend, she is good. He will protect her, not because he's ordered to, but because he wants to. His heart and head aren't as heavy when she's around.

Really loving the ideas in this story, lots of little details coming together. If you are liking my story I am sure this one should be the next one on your list!

Lastly and as always please leave me a review with your comments, guesses, feedback and critiques - _I welcome it all!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note;**

Hello again dear readers! Welcome back to another chapter, this is coming a little sooner than I planned because this week is finals for me, and I didn't want to leave you all hanging onto the edge of your seats. Because I wrote this chapter quickly it is a little shorter than the others, but has some very cute fluff for you all, I promise! Now again I would like to thank everyone for your support and reviews - some of you asked some questions or made some comments that I will address;

a soul of thunder; YES! There will be more flashback scenes to come, I may include some of Bucky's and Amelia's past in them but the first meeting may be an outtake chapter at the end. I haven't decided just yet what the flashbacks will include.

Imsebastianstanbutter; I was a late comer to that story, I am currently working through _'Restless'_ by that author when I am not studying. I admittedly can be a little picky about the Bucky fics I read so when I find one I love I hold on for dear life.

If you have any questions for me put them in a review and I promise to answer! I love hearing feedback and anything you guys suggest (especially if you want more fluff and flashbacks for Bucky and Amelia) may be later incorporated, who knows?

Lastly! I've come up with a playlist for this story, I'm the kind of need music for my characters to write too - but why keep that to myself? So here is the _'Keep Me Safe'_ official playlist; "Unsteady (Erich Lee Gravity Mix)" by X Ambassadors, "Battle Symphony" by Linkin Park, "Writings On the Wall" by Sam Smith, "All I Want" by Golden Dawn, "Oceans" by Seafret, "Turning Page" by Sleeping at Last and "Dust to Dust" by Civil wars. If you guys have any songs you think should be added to the official playlist let me know!

* * *

 **WAKANDA – JUNE 6th 2016**

Steve finally left the room and the two reunited lovers behind close to 3am. It had been a long four days but the past couple hours seemed to take the longest. Once Amelia had announced that she contained Bucky's memories in her own mind for safekeeping both Steve and Bucky had, had many more questions that needed to be answered. Even as he left Steve's curiosity was not satisfied but he had enough information for the evening. The girl and Bucky both deserved some privacy and some rest after all that they both had been through. However Steve's head was swimming with everything he had learned that night, about his friend… about HYDRA… and about the girl who they had rescued. Heading down the hallway and around the corner to find his own room he found that Natasha was waiting for him.

"I didn't expect you to still be up." Steve said as he approached the red haired woman.

"I just wanted to make sure you and Bucky were okay." She replied. Her arms were crossed over her chest as she looked Steve over, as will making sure he was truly alright. Perhaps that was her assassin training kicking in.

"No worse for wear." He then said. "How are the doctors?"

Natasha gave him that look that he knew she was either in disbelief or impressed. "That girl has some impressive power it seems. Both the doctors have completely forgotten the past two days."

"Two days?" Steve asked, even knowing that Amelia's powers partly involved the manipulation of memories he was stunned that with such brief contact she had wiped the past two days from two people.

"The German doctor that T'Challa had flown in this morning had no idea where he was or why. It turned into an interesting conversation." Natasha then explained. "So what is the deal with Sleeping Beauty?" she asked.

"Well…" Steve started. "-it is a pretty incredible story."

"Yeah, I'm counting on it after all that had happened." She remarked with a smirk. "But it's late so give me the quick version for now."

"She met Bucky when he was stationed in France during the war. They fell in love but didn't see each other again until they were reunited while captive of HYDRA." The blonde haired man started to explain. "As HYDRA was conditioning Bucky to become the Winter Soldier she took his memories before they were wiped for good, she'll be able to give them back to Bucky – once they both have some proper rest and he has a chance to talk with her more… "

Natasha gave a low whistle. "Yeah I'm sure it is a lot to just take in…. But at least he'll get his memories back."

"Some part of me wonders if he should get them back…" Steve muttered and looked off, his thoughts and worries starting to consume him.

"I thought that was what he wanted, what you wanted for him?" the other female asked with a frown creasing her forehead.

Steve sighed, "Yeah but what if the memories of what he was forced to do for HYDRA undoes him anyway?" he then asked her. Natasha didn't have an immediate answer. "He remembers some things now as it is and finally Bucky is starting to be Bucky again… I just don't want him getting hurt by getting those memories back." He then continued to speak after a few seconds of silence passed.

"I may not know Bucky all that well… even though he did put a bullet in me. But… I think you need to give him a little more credit than that. He already fought off HYDRA's mind control before and if this girl really loves him she can help him navigate the memories once he has them. And Bucky has you too, there is now a lot of people backing his corner… he isn't just HYDRA's human weapon anymore." Natasha then responded, at times she gave some of the most insightful and sagely advice.

"Thanks Nat." Steve said and was truly comforted by her words, at least enough that he might be able to get some restful sleep that now.

"Hit the hay Cap, I think tomorrow will be just as exciting." She then said and touched his shoulder gently before she walked past him and headed down the hallway to her own room. Steve glanced after her for a moment before he retreated into his room and sought the refuge of bed and sleep.

* * *

Silence had filled the room once Steve had bid them both goodnight, Bucky knew he deeply cared for Steve like a brother but he was glad that the blonde man was gone. There was just some things he needed to ask Amelia… things he needed to speak of that just couldn't be said with an audience. His mind was swimming with everything he had learned that night, Steve had dominated most of the questions directed to Amelia – and in a way Bucky was thankful that Steve had asked them. Bucky was still too stunned by Amelia's mere presence to think straight enough to ask them himself.

"Always so serious." The petite brunette said were where she was now sitting on the edge of the bed, Bucky was seated next to her and he turned his head to glance at her. Hazel eyes met blue and for a moment they both were still, simply regarding each other in silence.

Amelia again was the one to break the silence. "Steve is just as I expected him to be." She stated.

In the hours of explanation that she had given to him and his friend she had come to explain that because she housed Bucky's memories in her head that she knew all that Bucky had. She had seen all his memories of Steve and though she had never met him she in a way did. It was strange to think in a way that this girl knew so much about him, but at that moment he knew almost nothing about her. She had told him things, how they had met, that he had taken her dancing in a bar of the town she had lived in France - something Steve had laughed at and called 'true Bucky fashion', and that she had given him a locket of hers when he had left. But still he could not remember it yet.

The silence stretched out between them but Amelia had not pushed Bucky to speak and where Bucky sometimes felt uncomfortable or awkward around others when there was nothing to be said, with her it was not that way. If anything her presence made it easier to just… be. Breathing even felt easier with her there.

A small movement from the corner of his eyes made Bucky raise his head further and he saw her reached her hand out and held it up to him in offering. For a moment he wasn't sure what she wanted but he did lift his real hand and then placed it over hers. There was a warmth that spread up his arm from her touch but then there was a secondary warmth that bloomed in his mind. His eyes widened as his natural instinct from the torturous machine HYDRA had used on him was to expect pain, but it never came. Her fingers wrapped around his hand and she drew lazy circles on the back of his hand with her thumb and Bucky exhaled slowly, the motion was comforting.

 _Bucky…_ a soft feminine voice whispered in his mind and again Bucky tensed as he realized he had heard Amelia's voice but she had not even moved her lips. A slightly amused smile crossed her lips. _It's okay. It's just part of my abilities… I wanted to make sure you were okay._ Her gentle thoughts brushed against his. The sensation of the mind to mind contact was both familiar and vastly alien to him. Bucky could recall the dream – the memory he had, of her and remembered the same sensations from it.

Slowly his body relaxed as he became accustomed to feeling her mind so intimately pressed against his. He could tell she was not being invasive, not prodding or poking around but simply being there… His eyes briefly closed as he took the presence of another mind against his in. It wasn't until that moment he realized how lonely he had felt, though Steve was his best friend and he had been working on communicating with him more he knew that in a way Steve would never fully understand how much damage HYDRA had done. However having Amelia literally sharing his mind and his thoughts made him both comforted but he was worried that she would see how damaged he was now. How ruined he was in the wake of becoming the Winter Soldier.

 _You are not ruined Bucky._ Amelia's voice told him gently and her hand squeezed his causing Bucky to open his eyes and meet hers once again. _I see you. I see all of you Bucky… I know you are not so damaged that there is no hope. You'll see._

Bucky frowned, how could she sound so sure?

Clearly Amelia heard that inward thought because she sighed gently.

"You trusted the little bit of memory you have of me to come find me, right?" the brunette then asked him out loud. Bucky clenched his jaw nervously before he gave a single nod in response. "Trust me just a little bit more on this." She then concluded. Bucky's hand now flexed a little around her as if to confirm that he would, an answer that was good enough for Amelia.

"You have a lot more questions for me though." The brunette then said and Bucky felt her presence pull back from his mind, maybe to give him the chance to ask questions on his own terms rather than just read every thought that passed through his mind. Bucky appreciated her consideration but oddly he missed that strange, foreign warmth in his mind.

"I don't know where to start." He admitted lowly.

"Start wherever you want." She encouraged him.

"What was the first thing I said to you?" Bucky asked after a few seconds of contemplation.

Amelia smiled, "It wasn't so much something you said at first. I saw your from afar, I had been reading in a field just outside the town and you are doing patrol. But your first words were to offer me an escort home before night fall came." She told him. "You were quite the gentleman."

Bucky wanted so desperately that moment, he could recall the faces of girls he had gone on double dates with Steve all those years ago… but as he sat with Amelia and knew deep in his gut that she was more important than all of them he was drawing blanks.

"How… involved did we get?" he then asked tentatively. His heart rate was picking up as he thought about the implications of the question. His anxiousness for her answer only grew when Amelia's cheeks suddenly turn a bright pink color.

"Well you loved to dance… even when there was no music. You kissed me the first time we went dancing… and many times after that. But that was all, it was different back then wasn't it?" she responded gently. "You were my last first kiss… I knew that the moment it happened. When your regiment was given orders to move to Italy I promised you I would be waiting for you."

"I feel like I should know more… remember more." He then said as his metal hand clenched in frustration.

"You will." Amelia assured him gently. Bucky had to force himself to release a breath he was holding, the memories would come once they both got rest, but his mind was too alert to even think of resting. However the petite brunette was starting to fade at his side, he could see her eyes starting to droop and she was stifling some yawns as they were talking. As much as Bucky wanted to stay awake and question her about their shared past until the sun came up he knew she needed rest… and so did he even if it didn't come easy.

"You are tired." He stated. As if on cue Amelia yawned, her hand flew up to cover her mouth.

"I'm fine." She tried to say but Bucky knew firsthand how exhausting waking up from cyro-sleep could be. Bucky got up and went to turn out the main lights in the room, the room darkened significantly with only the bedside light still on.

"I'm staying here?" she then asked lowly, there was an undertone of worry – was she afraid he would leave her alone? Bucky crossed the room again and leaned down over her. His hand came up and brushed across her cheek before his fingers buried into her thick brown hair.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight again." Bucky said his voice firm and sure, leaving no room for argument or doubt. His words seemed to reassure her, her head tilted sideways pressing more into his touch. They stayed like that for a moment before she yawned again and Bucky pulled back and motioned for her to get settled in the bed. Amelia scooted backwards and started to adjust the blankets. As she slipped under them she turned her hazel eyes to look to Bucky once again. There was an unspoken question in her eyes, if she was sleeping in the bed then where would he rest?

Bucky motioned to the chair that was stationed at the bed side in answer. He may not have all his memories back but he knew enough that a gentleman would give the bed to a woman first and foremost.

However this solution did not seem to please Amelia as she frowned at the chair. Slowly she shook her head and then reached out for him, her hand slipped to his and she pulled him towards the bed. Amelia didn't need words to tell him what she wanted, through their touch she either sent him images of him sharing the bed with her on purpose or by accident… but either way Bucky knew what she wanted. He should have hesitated for propriety sake, but the draw to be close to Amelia was too much for even him to try and ignore.

Slowly she moved back and Bucky slipped into the empty space that she had made for him in the bed. Their gaze was rarely broken as they settled against each other, the bed was not very big so it caused them to pressed close together. Where Bucky had worried how he would not know what to do he found himself slipped his arm around her petite form like it was second nature. She gave him a small smile before she curled against his side and rested her head on his chest.

"I don't want to sleep again." She muttered and he felt her hand curl into his clothing. Bucky traces lines up and down her forearm, the scent of her filled in his nose. She still had a hint of winter frost from the cyro chamber, but he also smelt like wildflowers and fresh rain under it all. The scent was achingly familiar and it settled him.

"I'll be here until you wake." His murmured against the top of her head to assure her. It would not be years before she woke again, she would not have ice be the blanket that sent her to slumber.

 _Thank you Bucky…_ her thoughts brushed like a whisper against his mind. Within moments her breathing had evened out and Bucky knew she had finally given into exhaustion and fallen asleep. His heart beat strong against his chest, right under her head and Bucky wondered if his very heart was trying to reach out and touch her.

Silence of night filled the room and Bucky was left with his thoughts, processing everything he had learned that night… Some part of him was afraid that this wasn't real. That somehow she would disappear. It had surprised him with how at ease she was with him, his hands were covered in blood of innocent, or as Romanoff would say he had a ledger full or red. He was the boogeyman of HYDRA, their most deadly assassin yet Amelia had looked at him as if he wasn't all those things. He touched him without fear. Her trust and love was obvious as if she had painted it across her forehead. Tilting his head down he looked to her slumbering face and was able to fully take in her beauty. A beauty that resonated deep inside of him, both familiar and new... Spurred by gut instinct he pressed his lips against her forehead, a gesture of affection that felt so natural. Though he may not remember her yet he knew the memories would soon be his again and he would remember how and why he had fallen for the woman in his arms. Even he had thought he would be unable to find sleep that night but whether it was her scent, or her soft body and warmth pressed against him or a combination of it all made him feel more secure than he could remember… and eventually the Winer Soldier closed his eyes and descended into a peaceful slumber.

* * *

Now time for another couple fic recommendations! Now this are not Captain America, but they are still within the MCU. Next to Bucky my secondary crush is Loki, cause who doesn't love a bad boy?

 ** _Ruin_** by **Team Damon -** Summary; From the moment his emerald green eyes first beheld her, he knew he'd have her. It was not a question of if, but merely how and when. And he would be the one to decide both. Starts pre-Thor, will cover up to and beyond The Dark World. Loki/OC

 _ **The Story of a Fallen Star**_ by **I Have a Paper Heart** \- Summary; Whilst reading in the Great Library, Loki catches a servant girl utterly absorbed in a book. He is enchanted by her and when he speaks to her, she tells him a story about Prince who falls in love with a star. Set before and during Thor/Avengers. LokixOC

Both are fantastic and well worth the read!

As always please leave a review with your comments, feedback, ideas (for both songs and flashbacks you might want to see!) and critique, _I welcome it all!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note** ;

OH THANK SWEET HEAVEN FINALS ARE DONE. And hopefully done school forever, I think two degrees is more than enough to have. Now I can focus on things I love, like writing this story! This chapter will have more fluff since so many of you seemed to like it in previous chapters! Again sorry for any mistakes in spelling or grammar, I have no beta and editing your own work is hard...

Again would love to thank everyone who reviewed - **Love Fiction 2017, Imsebastianstanbutter, a soul of thunder** & **17 Daybreak.** Now address some reviews in particular;

a soul of thunder; Thanks for the input! At some point we may have that flashback, but as I said in previous AN that is may just be part of an outtake chapter, but it will be included in some way, shape or form.

17 Daybreak; THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR REVIEWS! They really meant a lot to me to hear your critique and feedback on the direction of this story. So as you hoped there will be fluff to come in this chapter and much more down the road & there is in fact a flashback in this chapter to start to give a glimpse of what HYDRA was like for Amelia - more will come so strap in your seat belt!

As I have said before I love hearing back from you guys, so please do leave a little something, something in the reviews if you are enjoying this story.

* * *

 **EASTERN UKRAINE – MAY 24th 1963**

Four days. Four days since she had been woken. Waking up from being frozen was always a jarring experience, she was usually panicked and disorientated when she was pulled from her cryo chamber. They had not even told her what year it was now. Usually they spent some time debriefing her on why she had been woken and what they needed her for. But this time something had been different, they dragged her to a cell room and left her there. The only contact that Amelia had was when a slot in the door was opened and food was pushed through. She had not seen Bucky this time… they had not brought her to a laboratory to be further experimented on or to interrogate a HYDRA prisoner like they usually had her do. Her only assumption was that Bucky was out on a mission… they only woke her so she could help repress Bucky's memories after another wipe and to manage his behavior.

Or had HYDRA figured out what she had done? That their Winter Soldier now had no memories at all? Did they suspect what she had done the last time? Amelia refused to pursue those thoughts. She had to keep her wits about her for whatever her HYDRA captors had in store for her.

Curled up on her lumpy cot she gathered her knees to her chest and leaned against the wall. Her thoughts did however wander to Bucky, she knew he would not remember her now. Deep inside she reached down and stroked the place she had hid his memories. They were still warm and very much alive inside of her. She knew that was where the Bucky she loved remained, where the true Bucky was. Her heart ached at the idea of seeing him, looking into his blue eyes and having him not recognize her… to not see her Bucky.

She wondered where he had been sent, what mission he had be given this time…

Suddenly the thick metal door swung open and she saw two guards standing there, she did not know their faces but she knew why they were there.

"Come." One man commanded his voice thick with a Ukrainian accent.

Amelia slowly uncurled herself and stood up, she crossed the room and exited her cell. She followed one guard while the other walked behind her, making sure she did not try and run – not that she would, she could never abandon Bucky to this place or these people, even if he did not remember her

.She was taken to a familiar laboratory where the machine they used to supress Bucky's memories was, it was the usual room they kept him in. Entering she felt her stomach tense as she saw him sitting in a chair, one body at his feet – some kind of doctor or assistant, dead. Bucky was curled over himself and was staring at his hands. She could not see his face but she did take note of his ragged, panicked breathing. Also in the room was a couple extra guards each with their weapons trained on Bucky – though it was more of a show of force than an actual threat. Amelia knew they would not kill him, he was too valuable.

"Asset! Sit back in the chair." One guard uttered the harsh command, but Bucky did not react or comply. "This is an order to sit back and prepare for assessment." The guard continued to demand.

After a moment Bucky lifted his head and Amelia caught the look in his wide blue eyes, he looked just as panicked as his posture suggested. But true to what she knew would happen there was no recognition in Bucky's eyes and they quickly moved away from her, as if she were some stranger to her, and looked to the man giving orders.

Since Bucky did nothing to comply with what was ordered, the doctor then gave a motion to the guards at Amelia's side and one slid his handgun from the holster at his side and then held it to the side of Amelia's head. The brunette didn't even flinch, she was now accustomed to them using her as the threat to make the Winter Soldier obey – she was valuable but unlike with Bucky they would dispose of her if they had too... she knew they would.

"Do as you are ordered or the girl will die." The doctor then said and Bucky's wide blue eyes turned back to look in Amelia's direction. There was still that cold, distant and unfamiliar gaze from the man across the room from her. She knew he had no reason to understand why they were threatening her to make him obey. The guard at her side slid the safety off with a small 'click'. Tears came to Amelia's eyes but she fought to stay still and hold them back.

"Last chance." A guard said lowly. Amelia closed her eyes in fear, she had thought by taking his memories she would be doing what was best for both of their well-being, that somehow and someday that they would find a way out and she could one day return his memories to him. But his memories would die with her if they put a bullet in her head.

There was a metallic groan and Amelia let out a shuddering breath as she opened her eyes and saw that Bucky had sat back in the chair, doing as he was commanded, but he blue eyes were trained on her. His gaze was filled with confusion, like he was faced with a puzzle he could not figure out. Amelia's eyes widened - did somehow he know who she was?

The room was still for a moment before the doctor moved in and the guard slowly lowered the gun from her. Bucky remained still as the doctor looked him over checking for injuries and evaluating his vitals. His eyes moved to other people in the room, glaring icily at them all except for when he eyes returned back to her they would look at her differently. The brunette did not look away from him, even if he didn't remember her… she could see some part of Bucky was still there. Something that made him look at her like that.

"We are done here." The doctor said a few moments later. "Freeze them."

It was a flurry of motions as the guards took both her and Bucky from the laboratory. Amelia panicked, she wanted to get to Bucky, even just for a moment – usually they always allowed Bucky and Amelia some time together, the reward for whatever mission that they had accomplished. This time however they did not seem to be allowing that.

"Bucky!" she called his name and she tried to twist and turn to look at him over her shoulder. The guards had grabbed her by her arms and practically carried her down the hall. She struggled but it seemed to do nothing. The glimpses that she caught of Bucky had him calmly walking a few feet behind her, seemingly unaffected by what was going on around them.

It was a short walk to the room where the cryo chambers were kept and the guards dragged her over to one that was open. Amelia looked at the machine and already felt chills run up her spine. It was never a pleasant experience, being sent under into an icy sleep. No matter what the body always reacted to the situation of deep chills the same, her heart would race in her chest as it sensed the cold consuming her. The numbness would be so painful that it would almost seem like she was one fire as her nerves and brain disconnected. The guards dragged her to the machine and one pushed her inside and the only started to fight with her limbs to put them into place and let the metal latches flip into place, holding her captive to the chamber.

"No. No… Please…" Amelia begged as tears ran down her face. "Just give me a moment. Please!" she cried out. However her pleas fell on deaf ears as they forced her to stay still and put all the straps to hold her in, in place. Her body trembled as she tried to hold in her sobs. She did not have the strength to break free, she was not a super soldier like Bucky was.

"P-Please…." Her voice brokenly begged.

Something seemed to finally make Bucky snap, he had been standing off to the side getting ready to enter his own cyro chamber. But suddenly he had taken out the two guards who had forced Amelia into hers. There was a brief moment as he stood and his head snapped up and his eyes met hers, there was a deep look of uncertainty and worry in his eyes. The brunette had gasped, surprised by his sudden actions and her heart clenched in her chest with hope.

The rest of the guards, who had been at the doors reacted lifting up their weapons all barked out orders at him to get on his knees and surrender. However the Winter Soldier was only getting started. The room was small so it took only two quick steps before he was at them, his metal hand grabbed the barrel of one gun and snatched it away before tossing it to the opposite side of the room. The second armed guard tried to move but Bucky made a swift side kick to his knees, and down he went. Then a second swift punch was connected to his jaw causing blood to splatter on the concrete ground.

As he combated the two guards one of the ones he had knocked to the ground was crawling. He slid, cradled his dislocated shoulder to the side of Amelia's cyro chamber and managed to reach the controls. There was a hiss from the hydraulic pistons before the metal and glass lid of the chamber slid down and enclosed the brunette inside.

"Bucky!" Amelia cried from her positon just before it slide into place. Loud clicks sounded as it latched into place.

The dark haired man turned his head when she had called out, seeing the machine enclose the petite female he seemed to change his objective to taking out foes to freeing her. He turned and walked with heavy steps towards the machine, his metal hand came up and touched over the glass as he inspected the chamber for its weak points. Inside icy air spat out of small valves and Amelia's breathing became quick and panicked. The soldier beat against the machine and Amelia gave a small cry as the metal dented it, but it did nothing to free her.

His hard blue eyes met hers and she could see determination in his eyes, but still no recognition. What was driving him to try and break her out of the chamber? Tears trailing down her cheeks started to chill as the temperature in the chamber dropped. Behind the soldier one of guards got back up to his feet and Amelia could see through the glass that he not wielded a baton that sparked with electricity. The man stumbled up behind Bucky and raised the weapon before sticking it against the dark haired soldiers back.

"No!" Amelia cried out, now able to see her breath waft from her lips. "Bucky!" she cried out as she watched him collapse and fall out of her view through the small glass window of her chamber. The chamber made more noises as it came to life and suddenly more nitrogen was pumped through the valves. The glass frosted quickly and it clung to her skin.

"N-No!" her voice chattered in protest as she was descended into a whirl of ice that surrounded her. She wanted to fight what was coming. To see that Bucky would be okay, that they would not harm him for what he had done. Her body slowed and she felt it creep through her, claiming her nerves and limbs. The last thing Amelia felt before darkness claimed her was the pain as icy air filled her lungs and breath was frozen inside of her.

* * *

 **WAKANDA – JUNE 6th 2017**

Amelia was ripped awake by hands on her shoulders, shaking her awake. Her eyes snapped open and her panicked hazel eyes instantly found pair of wide blue ones that hovered over her. Her breathing was deep and panicked and she could swear she still felt the ice in her lungs, making it hard to breathe. Her hands even felt numb and were shaking at her sides where they had clutched the blankets. A gasp escaped her throat as she realized she was desperate for air. Her face was wet and it took her a moment to realize it was tears and not melted frost like her brain wanted her to believe.

"Amelia." Bucky breathed her name, worry laced his voice. Her mind was filled with the image… the memory that had played out in her dream – of him looking at her from outside the cryo chamber but he did not look at her like he did now. In that dream she had been a stranger to him not even knowing what her name was.

Her bottom lip wavered as she opened her mouth to speak but a broken, muffled sob escaped her. It was utterly disorientating, waking from a dream like that and finding herself in a different place. Not only that she was looking up at _his_ face and he spoke _her name_ to her. Grief and fear was like a heavy stone that had been placed into her chest and her hands quickly let go of the blankets at her sides and she reached them up instead to clasp onto him. Bucky was stunned when he had been woken to Amelia shaking at his side, it took merely a look at her face to see she was frowning and whimpering in her sleep. Clearly in the grips of a nightmare and Bucky knew all too well what the source was likely, in the weeks that had followed the incident in Washington DC he had been plagued with nightmares, fragments of memories that refused to let him rest. Bucky had been quick to wake her and his heart felt like it was being shredded to see that momentary panic and fear In her eyes. But as her hazel eyes recognized him he saw her mind return to the present, but the fear remained – gutting him entirely.

Bucky pulled her into his arms, gathering up the petite brunette and cradled her against his chest. Amelia in turn buried her face against his chest. She sobbing quietly into his chest and his hand brushed over her back in slow, smooth strokes to calm her. Bucky had not thought himself capable of comfort… but he was quickly finding that where Amelia was concerned a number of supressed instincts had come back to life within him.

Moments passed before she seemed to calm in his arms. Bucky breathed in deep before he found his voice, "What did you dream?" he asked her quietly.

Amelia tensed in his arms for a brief second. "It was a memory… the time I saw you after I took your memories… You didn't know me." She murmured against him, her voice straining just to say the words. Surely the scene played out in her head as she spoke.

"Did I… hurt you?" he asked, not even sure if he spoke loud enough for her to hear him.

"No!" she gasped and suddenly her head snapped up and looked to him. "No…" she repeated lowly. "-it wasn't that, it was the fact that they did things to me to make you comply, you didn't know who I was. I know I had done what I had too to save your memories… what makes you, you… but I hadn't realized how much it would hurt to have you look at me like a stranger." She told him and Bucky could see now the deep emotion swirl in her eyes.

"If I had died… your memories would have gone with me and you wouldn't know to mourn or miss me. It scared me to think I was gone from you even when I was right in front of you." She said and raised a hand to catch some tears before they dripped off her face.

Bucky raised his hand, and brushed away her tears from her other cheek. Inside of him what was left of him clenched in the wake of understanding, how alone she had been… how she had taken on so much for him. He may not remember those years but he knew she did. She remembered and had lived through every moment of it on her own. The fact that she had survived it and they had found each other again was as close to a miracle as Bucky had ever known.

"I'm also scared…. to return your memories to you…" she then admitted. "When you came back from missions I had to take those memories from you as well. Even if you couldn't remember yourself your heart knew what they made you do was wrong… I don't want to hurt you again like that." Amelia said lowly.

"So I meant what I said before, if you don't want your memories back I can keep them… until you are ready or forever if you want." The brunette then said.

Bucky considered for a moment, ever since he had saved Steve he knew he was missing something… something very important. While he had vague flashes of the past they were not true memories… he could not remember what he had been thinking, doing – he was missing that part of himself. Then there was Amelia, someone who he had fallen in love with… someone who loved him enough to do all that she did to try and save him. If she had been brave enough to face what HYDRA had done to them both, to take the burden of his memories and the pain of loneliness then he could be no less brave than she.

"I meant what I said before… I want to remember you. I want to remember every moment of you." He then said and his hand swept up to brush a stray lock of her hair back from her face. "Even if that requires me to remember my crimes and dark deeds." He said with a firm finality.

A moment of silence passed and he felt her hand slip up until her fingers brushed against his neck. He quickly felt the warmth of her mental presence against his mind. A sensation he was quickly becoming used too. His eyes closed briefly as he felt her, she was utter warmth, goodness and love… so gentle that her mind melded against his, like pieces of a puzzle. Amelia knew every contour of his mind and was able to fill in the empty spaces, like a blanket.

 _I'll be with you. Every step of the way._ Her mental voice told him with calm certainty.

Opening his eyes, the blue depths burned with deep understanding, she would share him reliving every memory that she returned to him - to be the anchor as he got his life back. He truly would not be alone as he faced what he had done.

Slowly his head tilted down. Eyes were locked for a moment as gravity pulled him too her. She did not stop or pull away, with her presence in his mind she knew what he had intended. As easy as breathing his lips sealed over hers in a tender kiss. Though he could not yet remember their first kiss or any other that they had shared he knew he would always remember this one… the one of their reunion, the one that showed that trust and love knew no bounds or limitations. Fire burned through both of them and Bucky deepened the kiss - his body knowing what his mind did not. And Amelia returned in kind, his taste was sweet and her full lips followed his, like a dance, one they had done a thousand times before and would do a thousand times again.

Some inner part of Bucky was fighting to scrape together recollection. The muscle memory of his body against hers demanded to remember. As his mind struggled to center itself he felt her soothing touch on his mind, brushing away the confusion and panic as he tried to recall something that was not there. In response he held her closer and the kiss grew passionate. Like he was a parched man and she was water… so in need he was willing to drown.

However the physical needs of their bodies broke them apart and each gasped for breath the moment they pulled from each other's mouth. His eyes flew open and looked to her, taking in her contented face. A bolt of pride ran through him, even if he couldn't remember kissing her before – he could see she was still damn pleased with it.

Hazel eyes slowly blinked open and she smirked up at him. "Well you certainly remember how to do that."

* * *

Alright so no memories back yet, but stay tuned for Bucky to finally get them back next chapter! What are expecting to happen when they do get returned? Do you think HYDRA is out of the picture yet? Meanwhile what do you think Tony Stark is up too? Is he gonna show up too at some point? WHO KNOWS?!

As always please leave a review with any and all comments, critiques, feedback and suggestions for any flashbacks you want to see!


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:**

Hello all! Sorry it took me a while to get around to this chapter, finals were brutal and have been on the job hunt ever since I finished those. It caused a lull in my writing time but I am hoping to get back into the swing of things! Now this chapter is a little bit shorter than my others have been, but there is a reason which will be clear by the end of the chapter. Anyways I won't keep this going on too long I'm excited to present this chapter to you lovely readers!

* * *

 **NEW YORK – JUNE 5th 2016**

Elevator doors slid open and Tony Stark walked across the foyer of his office, a perky little blonde secretary stood from her place and bid him good morning. Tony gave an incline of his head but otherwise made no other effort to great her. Pepper had hired her, had praised the girls work effort and organizational skills, her name was something like Carly? – or was it Katie? – maybe Cassie? Tony gave a shake of his head purging those tedious musings from him mind. Stark Industries had been missing his attention in recent weeks, and with the tumultuous state of his and Pepper's relationship… Again he pushed those thoughts out of his mind before he strode into his office or rather what had been his office but now was Peppers… but still his all the same. He wanted to know the state of his company, from financials to the success of new reactor projects and whether there were any new findings from research and development.

Moving to sit behind the desk he logged into the system and began pursuing through files and glancing through his email. There had been many he had ignored or not replied too – in recent weeks he had been rather busy with other things. A file popped up and Tony paused as he looked at its title, it was a project that had been slated for the new Avengers facility… it was now a moot point, the Avengers had been scattered to the wind now it was just a ghost of what had been. His jaw clenched as he clicked it closed and move the file to a folder titled "ON HOLD – INDEFINITELY".

There was a lump that formed in his throat as he had to wrestle with the ideas that the Avengers were over. Steve had launched a rescue and freed those that Thaddeus Ross had imprisoned, not that Tony had ever agreed that they needed to be locked up… but they had chosen the actions that landed them there by defending Barnes.

"Sir." The voice of his new AI, FRIDAY. "You set an alert for spotting of any Avengers members around the globe." The female voice said in a smooth cadence.

"Yes?" Tony asked, he had set that up once he had returned from Siberia, he wanted to know where the other Avengers might show up, stay one step ahead of Ross.

"Facial recognition caught the appearance of Steve Rogers and James Buchanan Barnes from footage captured by security cameras and civilian cellphones last night in Dresden, Germany." FRIDAY said and brought up still images and footage onto the screen. It was unmistakable, the image of Steve… and he would easily recognize Barnes at his side as they seemed to be battling on the rooftop of a building.

"What were they doing there?" Tony then asked.

"Initial records sweep show it was a civilian business building… however a deeper analysis suggest that it may have been a cover for a HYDRA facility." The female AI reported, and then documents popped up on his screen. Most were so similar to the files that Natasha had unleashed on the world that Tony did not doubt it. It would be like Steve to continue to hunt HYDRA even in hiding.

He swiped back to the footage and watched it play out, that was when Tony noticed that both Rogers and Barnes seemed focused on a large metallic object. The video was not clear enough to make out exactly what it was… but it was clear they had taken whatever it was from HYDRA. Soon a jet arrived and Tony could only imagine who from the Avengers ensemble was flying that. But it was clear that it was this object, whatever it was, that they had risked exposure and being sighted to get from HYDRA.

"FRIDAY, check the data from all air traffic control towers in Europe…" Tony started to say as he watched the two fugitives load up their stolen object onto the jet and then it flew off screen. "-for any information on where that jet went. Also comb the records Natasha leaked to the world for any clues as what this facility had been responsible and perhaps why it hadn't been known about before now."

"Understood sir." FRIDAY responded.

Tony leaned back in the chair and a fist formed and he tapped it on the desk as he mind was spinning, wondering what Rogers was up too.

At the door of the office, which had been cracked open a little bit, the blonde secretary stood, just out of sight. She knew she could not have bugged the office the technology that protected it would have found it instantly. But there was something to be said for old, tried and true methods. Eavesdropping could be just as effective. A smirk of pride crossed the blondes lips before she turned and went back to her desk, acting as she always did, but very soon the information that Tony Stark had uncovered would circle back to HYDRA, once Stark knew where Rogers and Barnes had gone… so would they.

* * *

 **WAKANDA JUNE 6th 2016**

If it were up to Bucky they would have stayed in the room, ensconced in privacy for the rest of the day. He didn't want to frighten Amelia by having her exposed to so much, so fast… the last time she had been awake she had been the 1980's and things had changed drastically in the world. However the need to feed them both is what ultimately drove them out of the room. The moment they stepped out Bucky reached out and grasped Amelia's hand and guided her down the hallway. He walked before her, in a protective manner. They both had agreed to eat and then they would focus on returning Bucky's memories to him… hence the secondary reason that they had left the room, the need to at least inform Steve and T'Challa.

Getting breakfast was easy and Bucky watched with interest as the petite brunette ate her first meal in a few decades. He found himself captivated with just watching her, following her eyes as she looked around in awe at everything around her or the way she moved and her body gravitated to be close to him. With the kiss that they had shared earlier, it only seemed to solidify their connection to each other. Bucky may not yet remember falling in love with her but he knew his body and soul did recognize her. No longer was he alone, feeling lost within himself… now he had Amelia.

After eating they were able to quickly find Steve and told him about the plan. There may have been some apprehension and concern in his eyes but Steve was actually happy, the idea of truly getting his best friend back.

"Where will you guys do it?" he asked lowly.

"Somewhere private is probably best, it could take a while to give them back and then even more time for Bucky to sort through and absorb everything. " Amelia said gently.

"Can you be there?" Bucky suddenly asked. He may have vague recollections of his friend but once he had his memories back he wanted to look at him again, see him in the way that he should have when they were reunited on that bridge. But he was also concerned… what if he did react badly to all those horrible things that HYDRA made him do? Steve and Amelia knew him best and he needed both of them there, to make sure he didn't break down… but he also wanted Steve there to make sure that he didn't hurt Amelia.

Steve looked surprised by the request but he quickly nodded. "Of course Buck."

It was a quick second trip to find T'Challa and inform him, the King of Wakanda offered the services of any of the medical staff but Amelia was confident that such things weren't needed. They moved to a common room in the residential wing, thankfully it was empty of another of the other Avengers for now. Shortly both Bucky and Amelia were situated on the couch, facing each other. Amelia flexed her hands a little nervously, however Bucky also seemed just as nervous, his eyes kept moving between the brunette across from him and to his friend and then from time to time even to the window.

"Are you ready?" Amelia asked him softly. "Are you sure?" she asked him gently.

Bucky's eyes snapped to her and he breathed in deeply and gave a short nod, he had never been more ready, more sure… Amelia gave him a nod in return and then shifted closer to him. She got up on her knees before him and she slowly raised her hands and then placed her palms on either side of his head, right at his temples. For a moment everything was quiet in the room as Bucky felt the presence of Amelia pressed against his mind and he closed his eyes as she did, each preparing for what was to come.

Digging deep inside where she had safely buried Bucky's memories she carefully pulled them up.

 _Just remember Bucky…_ her mental voice whispered to him. _I'll be here with you, every step of the way._

He felt the warmth grow warmer and then there was a heaviness that impressed behind her soft mental touch. Fragments danced around him, little things that felt familiar… Just as she said Amelia's presence never faded or pulled away. Instead he could feel her weaving, pulling the sharp fragments together, and piecing them back together. He felt utterly exposed as her presence dug deep into him, becoming achingly aware of how much of himself that he was missing – how barren his mind was with the missing memories. A panic started to rise in him as he realized how empty he was but there was a quick loving touch in all those empty spaces to soothe him. In the wake of that mental touch he suddenly felt it all.

Like a wave, like an avalanche… it crashed over him – suddenly there were rapid flashes of images, all the faces and places, emotions and memories. He felt like he was suffocating under the weight of them all, like they were threatening to swallow him up. But Amelia was there as the life vest to hold him above water – even through all the darker memories, filled with pain and bloodshed. Some memories filled with so much death and horror that he could barely stand it, but true to her word she did not leave him to face the memories on his own, she softened the blows for him and moved him from one to the next before he could become too fixated.

Bucky clenched his hands at his side and his facial expression contorted to look pained and Steve flinched from his spot, though he knew there was nothing he could do in that moment to help his friend, he wanted to protect him. What all of HYDRA's leaked files confirmed was how many abhorrent acts that they had done in the past, all their worst acts had been documented and now were known to the world. But Steve could only imagine what secret horrors HYDRA had put Bucky through, all those things he had forgotten that were now being given back to him.

His breathing increased as he felt panic and everything he was seeing, all of it coming back at once. Pieces were sliding into place and it was both familiar and strange, to know _who he was_ again. Things about himself he hadn't even known were missing, like how he liked the color green… green like the trees when he and Steve would go visit Central Park, or the green of his army uniform that he had been so proud to wear… or like the flecks of color in Amelia's eyes.

 _It's okay. Don't focus… let it all fall back into place._ Amelia's voice coached him as she placed more memories into his mind. It all fit together, and finally he felt whole. All the empty space in his mind was filled again and he felt a surge of emotion to know that he had his memories back. As overwhelming as it all way he knew, he knew he had his memories back…. finally.

Slowly he felt that everything had fallen back into place, the images rushed in his mind like a montage that flashed by so fast he couldn't focus on one thing. He blue eyes flew open wide as she realized… he was _Bucky_ once again. His eyes looked to Amelia and then to Steve and he felt the response in his mind and his heart…

"Buck? Are you okay?" Steve asked from where he stood.

Bucky slowly nodded his head, he couldn't trust his voice to speak just yet. Amelia's hands fell down from his temples and then one of her hands settled onto his.

"Did it work?" Steve then asked his voice sounding a little anxious. "Do you remember?"

His blue eyes looked to Amelia and he could clearly remember her now, a memory of her in a field, surrounded by wildflowers, wearing a blue dress… he could remember that day now. He remembered…

"I remember…." Bucky said lowly. "I remember everything."

* * *

YAY! Bucky has his memories back! I cut this chapter a little short because I didn't want to launch fully into the flashbacks in this chapter, so guess what that means? - Next chapter will be entirely of important memories that Bucky had regained! Also we get get a glimpse of what Tiny has been up too in this time and what may be yet to come? Any suspicions?

As always I welcome all reviews with your feedback, critique, and opinions!


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note;**

Well it appears I am not dead after all, and you all have my profound and deepest apologies for disappearing as well not updating this story in FOREVER. Life got hectic with school, graduating, looking for a job and starting a new job. My life is crazy, not to mention an upcoming move. I've had very little time to write,but lots of time to plan and think about this story. For those who have hung in there I appreciate every single one of you for being so patient.

Now to get back into the swing of things, after last chapter this one will be entirely of flashbacks for Bucky as he now has his memories back. This chapter will be super long, hopefully this makes up for the lack of updates for the past couple of months. I literally could make like 5 chapters of just flashback scenes with all the ideas I have bouncing around in my head. As a special treat there is a little **_Easter Egg_** hidden in this chapter for you guys. If you correctly guess it right you will win a fabulous prize! - details of what that prize will be to come at the end note of this chapter.

As always I send out my love to the ones who reviewed the last chapter. Special thanks to; **Hannah** , **Love Fiction 2017, kuppcake, a soul of thunder** & **17 Daybreak**. To all the other readers thank you as well and please leave me a review at the end, it will help me stay motivated and get chapters out faster!

Lastly I am happy to officially welcome **Riveriver** as my beta for this story. She is my dear friend and creative partner in crime and I am ever grateful for her help in catching my mistakes and giving me help and encouragement in continuing to write this story.

* * *

 **BROOKLYN – SEPTEMBER 29th 1939**

"You did what?" Steve asked in a loud and incredulous voice. The news had surely taken him off guard, Bucky had not told even his very best friend that he applied to be a part of the army. But with everything going on in the world, what else could Bucky do? It was the American thing to do – right? Give for the service of your country, be patriotic… so many men were signing up, so why shouldn't he?

"I got accepted to the army." Bucky repeated his announcement.

"Then I'll join too." his blonde haired friend replied without missing a beat. A smirk crossed his face and he shook his head in that same, good-natured way that a mother did when their child proclaimed some grandiose idea – like they would fly a plane to the moon. Steve was as brave as a lion but had as much physical prowess as a rabbit.

"No you won't."

"I will." Steve quickly countered with a frown, seeming to forget that many hadn't even thought that Steve had hit puberty yet, let alone be old enough or fit for service in the army. Bucky always believed in Steve but he knew the front lines of the war were a place that his friend didn't belong.

"Apply to the air force, you could fly planes." Bucky then suggested, surely there was a way that Steve could be helpful there? – as long as he wasn't on the front lines. Away from danger.

"I'll go with you." He would not be diverted or convinced to go anywhere but the army. "I'm with you, until the end of the line right?"

Bucky smiled, it was hard to argue with Steve when he spoke like that. A sigh escaped him before he raised his hand to meet Steve's and they clasped hands – a sign of their friendship, their comradery. "Till the end of the line." Bucky repeated the words in confirmation.

Later that day he was accompanying Steve to an army recruitment center where Steve received the first of his many rejections from the army.

* * *

 **LONDON – MAY 14th 1941**

Arriving with a boat load of American soldiers to Europe was both exciting and surreal. He was now one of many and the trip was not quite what he thought it would be. His mother had always wanted to take a boat and visit London, but the city Bucky was seeing was not the London his mother had wanted to see. The hardships of the war were written across the people's face, slapped up on posters that plastered the sides of buildings and it hung in the very air. It was times like this he missed Steve, but was also glad his friend was safe back home – where he should stay.

"107th Infantry, report to pier 5." The announcement came and Bucky sighed, the stay in London would be short lived and they were already being prepped to be sent off to their deployment areas. The hundreds of men who arrived together would go with their division and be spread across Europe to fight the advances of the Nazis on many fronts.

Tucking the last of his things back into his pack Bucky slung it over his shoulder and made his way to pier 5, no way Sergeant Barnes would be late.

"Ready for the action to begin?" a fellow member of his infantry division asked him when he arrived – Marc was his name, they had shared a bunk in the boat. He was a nice guy and reminded Bucky of Steve, just eager to be a part of the war for the sole reason of nobly serving his country. He wondered how seeing the frontlines might change him. Growing up on the scrappy streets of Brooklyn had prepared Bucky for the idea of fighting, but Marc was from the east side of New York, his family had money and power and still Marc had signed up for the war - even had a girl waiting for him at home.

In that regard Bucky had to admit he was a little jealous.

"I can wait a little bit longer." Bucky responded as they wanted for the Colonel to appear and give them the details of their deployment. "You heard where we getting sent too?" he asked, Marc had a way of sniffing out information – he would have been a good guy for army intelligence.

"Eastern part of France is what I heard." The other replied in a whisper. Where and how that information was gathered Bucky didn't know but he would trust that what Marc had heard was good.

"Gentlemen." The stern, heavy voice of Colonel Jenkins said and every man in the 107th stood straight and all eyes snapped to the man who stood before them. "Now, I won't pretend that there is anything easy about the choice and sacrifice you made to come and serve in this war. For that I speak for our country and thank you for your dedication." He said, likely a statement he made to every unit his deployed but even if they was the hundredth time he had said it – it still bolstered the courage of every man there, Bucky included.

"In terms of where you boys will be shipped too it seems easy but we believe that it will soon be the target of Nazis attention. This is just as important as fighting on the frontlines…" he then said and looked down to his clipboard in hand. "You boys will ship out at 0800 hours tomorrow morning for Barcelonette, France – your mission to protect and hold the town."

* * *

 **BARCELONETTE – JUNE 2nd 1941**

The countryside of France was nothing less than stunning. Even in deployment Bucky could appreciate the beauty of the country, and the disappointment that even a place such as this might soon be ravaged by war. There was guilt that it was not in the thick of fighting and that they ought to be doing something more useful than patrolling such a small town night and day – keeping an eyes out for potential Nazi invasion. Some of the others were growing restless after being stationed for a week and not seeing a lick of action in that time. However there were likely many men on the frontline who would gladly trade places – just to have the chance to sleep without the fear of a shell falling on their heads.

"I'll head up along the north side of the town." Bucky said, there was only so many times he could walk up and down the main street of the town before he grew bored.

He knew there were some tanks stationed in the fields keeping an eye on the distant kills for any enemy movement. He gave a wave to his fellow soldiers before he headed out, moved down small streets until she reached the edges of the town. Rolling fields surrounded Barcelonnette and it was indeed quite picturesque, one look around and one might forget a war was even happening. By any standard it was a beautiful days, complete with blue skies, plenty of warm sunshine and a pleasant breeze.

Bucky wandered up a dirt road that circle the town, probably used by farmers to move their livestock from one pasture to the next. However as he passed from one field to the next she turned his gaze to a large willow tree and noticed a figure. He did not tense or reach for the weapon as his blue eyes settled on the feminine form nestled beneath the large tree, a young woman perhaps at most a couple years younger than he, her hair was a dark chocolate color and tumble down in waves, a white ribbon tied in a bow sat near the top of her head and she was wearing a becoming dress of navy blue.

Even as he saw her laying back, her head using a protruding root as a pillow and her focus intent on the book she held in her hands he could see she was beautiful, the kind of girl any man would be ashamed not to flirt with. She seemed unware of her company and Bucky grinned to himself, it had been quite the time since he had a chance to flirt with a pretty gal. He crossed the grassy plain was separated them, if she heard his approach she made no motion to acknowledge him – perhaps she was truly lost in the depths of her book.

"Good afternoon m'am." Bucky said, laying on the charm as thick as his Brooklyn accent – the one that he was sure would get a French girl curious. He removed his hat as was proper when addressing a lady. "I noticed you out here by yourself, could I escort you home perhaps – it might be unsafe out here." he then asked, hoping to God she understood English.

For a moment things were still before she finally tilted the book down and her head turned to look at him. His eyes met the brightest pair of hazel green eyes he could ever remember.

"Are the Nazis here?" she said in remarkable English, he even recognize a hint of an British accent.

"Well no –" Bucky started to saw and she flashed him quick smile.

"There is no danger yet then." She said and Bucky noticed how her eyes appraised him.

"It would be very bad manners for me to leave you out here all alone." Bucky then said once he recovered from her quick wit.

"I'm not alone though am I? I have you here now." The brown haired woman said as she slowly sat up and placed her book on her lap. Her hand then gestured to the space next to her. "Sit, stay if you feel the need too."

Bucky smirked before he did just that.

* * *

 **BARCELONETTE – JUNE 10th 1941**

It was yet another beautiful day where Bucky found himself pacing under the willow tree, it was midday and _she_ was late. For the past eight days he had seen her every day, whether it was they met in the market or actually came out to the very tree he met her under. Everything had been going so well, then night before she had come to the pub in town that the Americans had made their unofficial hang out. He remembered when she walked in wearing a lighter blue dress than the day he had met her and noticed how she had worn lipstick too… He had asked her to dance… they had almost kissed.

For the entire night Bucky had asked himself why he had not kissed her. This was what he was good at, how many gals had he taken dancing? – how many had he kissed before? But something was very, _very different_ now.

"Bucky." A soft feminine voice said and the soldier turned and a relieved grin crossed his face as he saw her there. A blanket to sit on in one hand and her woven basket she went to the market with tucked into the elbow of the other.

"Amelia…" he breathed her name with reverence and was astonished when his heart skipped a beat in his chest. She smiled to him brightly.

"I am sorry I am late." She apologized before she went to spread the blanket before sitting on it. Bucky followed suit and sat closer to her, his body angled to her as she took her book from the basket and lay it on her lap.

"New book?" he asked, noticing it was a brown cover rather than the dark green one she had, had the other day.

"Yes, it's American." She admitted before blushing and then turned it towards him so he might read the spine, it was a collection of great contemporary American poets. Briefly he wondered what had made her choose that one, perhaps he was hopeful.

"I figured I should find something in English that I could read to you this time." Amelia said sweetly and her blush deepened. The last book, a French novel she had read aloud to him, he had asked her too even if he didn't understand a word she said – he liked the sound of her voice.

"Anything good?" Bucky then asked, his eyes trained on her face as she seemed to light up.

"Very good… for Americans." Amelia teased. Her attention turned to her basket and she plucked a piece of fruit from among the few groceries she had likely picked up at the market along her way to meet him. "Plum?" she asked him, offering one of the plump purple fruit to him. Bucky smiled and took it holding it before he mouth as he watched her take a second one from the basket and bite into it before casually flipping open the book in her lap.

"Read to me again?" he asked her and the brunette graced him with a smiled again, hastily swallowing her bite of plum before she spoke.

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both…" her voice rang out melodic and clear as she recited the words on the page. Bucky did not move, his eyes entirely focused on her lips, how they moved… why the hell hadn't he kissed her the night before? Steve would laugh to see him now, the famous ladies' man having to rationalize and work up the courage to kiss a girl.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference." Amelia concluded the poem and then lifted her head to have her eyes meet his once again.

"Did you like it?" she then asked and Bucky realized that he was staring intently at her.

"Who was it?" he asked as he leaned in closer to her. An action that seemed to fluster her – he could hear her sharp intake of breath before her eyes dropped back down to the page.

"Ummm… Robert Frost, he-" Amelia started but as her chin raised Bucky had finally closed the distance between them and his mouth found hers as his hand came up and his palm cupped the right side of her face, his fingers buried into the roots of brown hair. She tasted sweeter than he imagined, and the fact she tasted like plums only made the kiss better. Bucky felt her tense with surprised but then easily give in and proceed to kiss him back. A ladies' man Bucky may have been but he already knew that this kiss was unlike anything he had experienced before, kissing had never been like this with any girl he had taken on a date before. This was special.

It was that day Bucky realize that in the midst of a war, he had fallen hard and fast for a petite girl with hazel eyes, brown hair and a love of poetry.

"Wow…" was what she breathed when after a few minutes their lips parted and Bucky smiled along with her.

Wow indeed.

* * *

 **VERONA - AUGUST 3rd 1944**

It didn't matter how many times Bucky saw Steve, he still had a hard time believing it. Gone was the scrawny kid who didn't know how to avoid a fight or could barely be considered tall enough to ride the coaster at Coney Island - instead he was taller, bigger and if it wasn't for the face and the eyes he would be an entirely different person. But still he was Steve, the guy who couldn't ignore someone in need or a worthy cause, the guy who wouldn't let an obstacle stand in his way. When his best friend had appeared in the HYDRA facility to save him, Bucky had thought he actually had died... No way that Steve could be in Europe, let alone look like he did. But he was there and he was so different and yet the same. It had taken Steve suddenly appearing in the middle of the war for Bucky to realize how much he had missed him. Having your best friend save your life had a way of bringing you even closer - so when Steve asked for his help to track and destroy other HYDRA facilities it did not even take him a second to think about it.

"You ready to follow Captain America into the jaws of death?" his friend asked him as they stood side by side at the bar where most of the POW's that had been liberated were now celebrating their freedom. A few had already committed themselves to Steve's cause, either to pay back the debt they owed him or to try and get payback on HYDRA... it didn't really matter. Bucky knew these men from their time imprisoned and knew each one of them was invaluable to the mission Steve was setting before them.

"Hell no." Bucky said with a scoff to hide his laughter. "The little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb to run away from a fight. I'm following him." he then said after half a moment passed and then looked sideways to Steve.

In that moment a flash of Amelia's face passed through his mind, he had a promise to keep. He knew that if he asked, he probably could be given a reprieve to return to Barcelonette and check on his girl. He should ask about the state of the town, was it still safe? What if it wasn't? Amelia had said her family was considering returning to England, he would be happy if she did - to get away from France which was getting more dangerous but he wouldn't know how to find her. How worried was she about him? He ought to send her a letter, set her mind at ease. But how to tell her that he had been captured, tortured, experimented on and then freed - and how to say that he would be following his best friend back into the danger once again? Maybe it was better to leave her unaware that he was committing to such a dangerous mission.

"But you are keeping the suit right?" he then asked his friend, realizing that Steve was looking at him in that concerned way. Trying to figure out what was going on in his head.

"It's kinda growing on me." Steve replied and then took a sip on his drink, a useless endeavor as it turned out the serum had not only enhanced his size and strength but made Steve unable to get drunk. Perhaps it helped Steve feel normal still. Bucky could understand that, ever since that Dr. Zola had experimented on him, Bucky wasn't sure he felt normal anymore. Things were different now... would Amelia notice?

"Something eating at you Buck?" Steve then asked him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Bucky sighed, he had yet to tell Steve of Amelia. Steve always knew him as a guy who dated many girls, never going serious. How would he react to the idea that he had fallen in so unexpectedly, so quickly... He would probably tease him. Then also how to tell Steve of the promise he made? Or would Steve even want him to come if he knew now that he had a girl waiting for him? That answer he already knew, Steve wouldn't want him to be in such danger if he knew about Amelia, he would want Bucky to go to her and then who would be watching Steve's back? Captain America or not Steve needed someone to watch his back as he took on HYDRA.

"So much has changed." was all that Bucky said in reply. He resolved not to let Steve know about Amelia just yet, once the war was won or their mission completed... He was sure they both would love each other, he had already told Amelia so much about his closest friend.

Steve obviously took to understanding that Bucky was talking of the war, and perhaps how they both had changed. The blonde haired male just smiled good-naturedly, "I would has it has. I bet I can finally beat you in a foot race." Steve then said and Bucky chuckled.

"If only I was foolish enough to try and bet you now." he then responded and together both men turned to rejoin the rest of their team at the table.

* * *

 **BELGIUM – OCTOBER 11th 1946**

Hazel eyes sparkling in the sunshine. A girl in a blue dress and with a white bow in her hair. Those were the images that Bucky desperately held onto in this hell hole, the one ray of sunlight that HYDRA could not take away from him. It had been years since Bucky saw Amelia, but he knew he would never forget each freckle that was on her face or the fleck of brown that was in her right eye. Waking up after the fall had been torture, he was sure he had been dead… there was so much pain. But the one thing that got him through was the memory of Amelia, the precious time that they had spent together. If that was the closest thing to happiness that God would ever give him, then Bucky was glad it had been with her.

"You must cooperate soldier." A voice of one of Zola's assistants said but Bucky ignored them. Physical pain was what they used on him but he would endure. He did not look to the man in the white lab coat or acknowledge – something he knew would frustrate them, but he did not care.

It had been years now… so much had time had passed. He wondered if Amelia was safe, if Barcelonette was just the same as he had left it… if she was still waiting for him. She had promised she would wait for him to come back, once the war was over. It was a promise he had intended to fulfill. Whether he stayed in France with her, returned to her home in Britain r or convinced her to come back to America with him. Wherever she wanted to be, so would he. Steve would have to understand if he never went back to Brooklyn – he knew he would.

But not it was clear to Bucky he would never be able to fulfill the one promise that meant everything. He hoped Amelia would think him dead, that she would mourn him but move on and find someone else – marry, have children… _be happy_.

Even if it was without him. She deserved to be happy.

He wished he could see her one last time. The memory of her smile would remain... as would the memory of their first kiss. Those were things he would hold onto.

 _Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference._ \- her voice echoed in his mind. She was the road less traveled, unlike anyone he had ever met, any girl he had every flirted with or took dancing and she had stolen his heart in a few short weeks.

Now she would hardly recognize him... he was vastly changed and all of it was clear. His eyes fluttered down to look at his new mechanical arm, it was just like a real one... but there was no feeling - it was hard and metallic and a glaring reminder what HYDRA now wanted him to be. A monster... a killer... a weapon. This he never wanted to become. He was a soldier yes, but he fought for good... for freedom... for peace. He had been their enemy and now they wanted him as an asset... he would refuse. Even if it killed him, breaking his promise to both Amelia and Steve but he hoped they would understand - if they even knew what had happened to him. But maybe it would be better if they never found out what HYDRA had done to him.

The assistant grew frustrated and Bucky expected that at any time they might turn to more drastic tactics. He had been tortured before and Bucky knew what to expect, but no amount of pain would make him betray his country, his beliefs or Steve. Promising wealth and power hadn't worked, torture would be their next step to try and force him... and he would fight them every step of the way. He would make them regret what they had done to him, what they wanted to turn him into.

Lifting his head Bucky happened to glance towards the glass window that looked out to the hall, two men dressed in the black HYDRA uniforms walking past, but it wasn't them who caught his attention. Instead his blue eyes focused on the head of brown hair, a form that petite and being half carried and half dragged down the hall. His heart leapt in his throat as he was reminded of Amelia, her hair was that exact hue. Bucky rose to his feet and approached the bars of he cell that contained him. No it couldn't be...

 _It couldn't be_.

Seconds felt like they ticked by slower, the whole world seemed to slow down as his eyes remained locked on the form being escorted by guards. Almost as if that person realized they were being watched, they turned their head. And as blue eyes found hazel green ones, Bucky felt his world shatter, his heart fell right out of his chest and was crushed as he realized that those eyes only belonged to one person in this world. For a brief second he thought his mind was playing games on him, was this all part of his imagination? - some delusion that his emotions and memories of the woman he loved put together. _It couldn't be - Amelia couldn't be at HYDRA_. Her face was paler that he remembered, she seemed weak in the way that they were having to half carry her - like her own legs couldn't support her. If HYDRA had done this to him, what the hell were they doing to her and why?!

The shocked registered equally on her face and suddenly she was struggling against the men holding her. Those guards had hands on _his girl_. Bucky grabbed at the Bars and shook at them - as if the enhanced strength and the metal arm he had been given would be able to rip them from the ground and ceiling. He would tear the whole world apart to get to her in that moment.

"Amelia!" he called her name and watched her try and stop the guards forward motion, try and rip herself out of their hold and turn to him.

"BUCKY!" she called his name and as her voice entered into his ears he knew she was real. This was real. She was there. HYDRA had her...

 _HYDRA had Amelia_.

If there was a hell then this was it. Had they found her just to use against him? Was he the reason she was there? How long had she been there? What had HYDRA done to her? - the questions cut him deeper than any knife and hurt more than any amount of torture could have. They couldn't have her. Bucky wouldn't allow it, they couldn't have _his_ Amelia. To his horror he watched the guards drag her down the hall, in seconds she would be out of his sight. Our of his reach. He couldn't loose her again.

"AMELIA!" his voice cried, reverberating off of the metal and the concrete walls, following after the brunette as she was taken from his sight.

The doctor's assistant watched with keen interest. Nothing had made the asset react... that was until now.

* * *

Hope you guys like this walk through Bucky's memories, more flashbacks will continue in later chapters never fear.

Yes, I have played with timelines and taken some liberties to assume where events took place. I am not sure if Verona was ever the intended setting for once Steve freed the POW's from the Austrian HYDRA facility but I am trying to use what makes sense. All edits made from the movies are done to form with my interpretation of events and to work with the story.

Did you guys spot the _**Easter Egg**_?! Leave a review with what you think it was for your chance to win a prize! - What is the prize you ask? One lucky reviewer will win a chance to help me name and create a new character to appear in future chapter. Have a chance to help me build this world some new characters to be introduced!


End file.
